


Devil on my Back

by ragnelleloathly



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Ghost!Merlin, M/M, de-aged!Merlin, temporary de-aged!Merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-15
Updated: 2014-09-15
Packaged: 2018-02-17 13:45:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 39,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2311730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ragnelleloathly/pseuds/ragnelleloathly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur thought his late mother’s home town Albion was just a dot on the map but when he actually went to the little town to see the Du Bois manor she left him in her will for his twenty-fifth birthday, he never expected himself to become roommates with an annoying and sassy ghost named Merlin who thought it was his life mission to set Arthur on a diet plan. In spite, Arthur called the paranormal investigators Gwaine and Alator to get rid of this little pest. But then, things got even weirder when after warming up to Merlin (alright, they went on a date and yes, Merlin was a ghost back then), he comes back to life in the form of a child (fortunately, only temporary) and switching sides to hunt ghosts with Gwaine, charming the bakers Sefa and Annis along the way with his cute looks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Devil on my Back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [patria_mori](https://archiveofourown.org/users/patria_mori/gifts).



> Thanks to the ever lovely and talented  
> [patria-mori](http://patria-mori.livejournal.com) [or her art!](http://patria-mori.livejournal.com/2039.html)f
> 
> I'm eternally grateful for her and her patience for me. So be sure to check her livejournal out!
> 
>  
> 
> ~~**EDIT** Dear god, I've just realized that this is the wrong and unfinished version of my fic. I'll update the actual and full fic (with the dividers from my artist) as soon as I have access to my laptop. Sorry for the confusion!~~
> 
>  
> 
> Alright, I've finally managed to access the file and updated the full version now.

Arthur was chasing after a flock of sheep.

_Arthur was chasing after a flock of sheep._

Merlin let this sentence roll over his tongue, savouring the feel of it. It was pure coincidence (or so Arthur claimed) that Merlin needed to pick some rare herbs around his hometown Ealdor for Gaius and have Arthur passing by from coming back from patrolling the borders around Kanen’s kingdom. Actually, Merlin was meant to return three days ago but since his mother sprained her wrist, Merlin sent a letter to Gaius to request for a longer leave to care for her.

Arthur has said that he was only staying here with Merlin because he was making sure that Merlin was actually working and not just using his newly found vacation to slack off. Truth to be told, he secretly thought that Arthur couldn’t survive a day in Camelot without Merlin attending to his every need. Hell, he has spoilt Arthur rotten that he couldn’t even dress himself alone anymore.  Arthur was practically useless without him!

And while he was the Prince of Camelot and was used to be attended to, Merlin, noticed with a wry smile on his face, Arthur felt awkward being idle and cared for by a hurt Hunith. That was also the reason why he offered to herd the village’s flock of sheep.

Obviously, Arthur failed spectacularly.

He was covered from head to toe in mud, looking more like a clumsy simpleton than a handsome prince, red tunic covered in muddy hand prints when Arthur attempted to pat the dirt away. Merlin bit his lips to keep him from laughing out loud when he saw an overexcited sheep who was a bit in love with Arthur, muddy or not, bumping his nose against his rump and thus, making Arthur topple over three times in a row into the same puddle. Not like Merlin counted. No, Merlin may or may not have helped tripping him when Arthur managed to catch himself in time. Mud was such a good look on his prince. That and the whiny face he pulled when he ripped tufts of weed out in his frustration when he pouted cross-legged on the ground. Not bothering getting up anymore. 

“Merlin!”

Merlin threw the collected herbs in his basket and didn’t even bother trying to school his features into a neutral expression as he walked to Arthur to help him get up on his feet.

“I’m not going to help you herd the flock, Arthur. You were the one boasting about your impeccable leader abilities. What’s some sheep, right? I’d rather not mess with your flawless track record, _sire_.”

Arthur glared. He slapped Merlin’s hand away, suddenly not so keen to get his help.

“Will you just shut up?!” Merlin couldn’t take him seriously, not when the lovesick sheep from before licked Arthur’s face, nuzzled his face against Arthur’s knee.

“Awww, look how loved you are. “ He stroked the sheep’s head, though it shook it off to bump his nose against Arthur’s thigh. “How about naming him to celebrate your bond?”

“Rubbish. I have no interest in partaking in something stupid like that.” He shooed the animal away but instead of being discouraged by the rejection, it jumped excitedly around Arthur. It probably thought Arthur was coy and gave Arthur little shoves against his thighs, inviting him to play with her. When Arthur made no attempts to join her in her games, the sheep began to charge forward and nibble at Arthur’s tunic.

“Come on, give your lovely queen consort a chance, “ Merlin said but when he saw the animal stumbling just like Arthur moments before it and falling to their side, he grinned even wider at the new revelation, “Oops, looks like you’ve caught yourself a king consort, Arthur.”

Judging my Arthur’s set jaw and piercing glare, there were going to be many boots to be polished and endless weeks of stables to be mucked, waiting for him back in Camelot. Oh, but it was so worth the sight of Arthur completely humiliated and covered in mud.

Merlin sneered. “Oh, I know. You probably can’t come up with a name because being a knight fighting and training so much has already depleted your brain to the size of a coin.”

“Insulting royalty, Merlin” Arthur seethed, hitting his head with the back of his hand, “is treason!”

“Doesn’t make it any less true,” Merlin sing-songed.

“Shut up! “ He wiped the grime and sweat from his face, puffing his chest proudly out. “And I—I already have a name!”

 Merlin cocked an eyebrow. “Let’s hear it then, sire.”

“Sir—Sir white-furred Fluffy…head.”

“Sir white-furred Fluffyhead,” Merlin repeated, face neutral. He glanced down to ‘Fluffyhead’ who was still happily cuddling with the royal thighs, still oblivious to the fact that it just got the most ridiculous name in all five kingdoms. Poor sheep. What a burden it had to live with.

“How creative of you, my lord,” Merlin said cheerily. It’s too bad Merlin was an open book when it came to his moods and feelings because Arthur looked practically murderous when Merlin turned his head back from the sheep. “No, really. It is. But couldn’t you just go for an ordinary name like Will or Thomas?”

Arthur finally deigned and gave Fluffyhead some gentle pats on his back who preened under the attention Arthur bestowed upon him. “Please, Merlin. When the Prince of Camelot is at work, nothing is going to be any less than extraordinary.”

“Oh, is ‘extraordinary’ the new word for ‘ridiculously embarrassing and silly’? Because you might as well title yourself _Arthur extraordinary stupid Pendragon_.” Out of his peripheral vision, Merlin saw his mother and the elderly Mary walking towards them; he waved at them.

“Insulting me is treason!” Arthur repeated, flabbergasted while he stroked Fluffyhead’s fur distractedly. It might be covered in mud but Merlin wondered if it felt as soft as it looked.

Merlin rolled his eyes. “Oh please, we’re not in Camelot now. We’re In Ealdor, my territory, so consider me the prince here.”

Hunith walked over, already being in hearing range. “Merlin! Stop saying such silly things.” She shook her head, sighing and looked at Arthur apologetically. But then she turned to address Merlin again, “You might be a special boy but not royalty.”

“But mother!” Merlin said in the whiniest voice he could manage, not caring how childish he sounded. And no, he wasn’t pouting.  He pressed his lips together, already concocting a plan on how to teach Arthur a lesson in humility and respect. If he couldn’t do it under his mother’s hawk eye, he’d have to resort to his and Will’s pranks they’d used on Old Man Simmons. His mother might believe he may be a good and innocent boy who only used his magic for house chores behind closed doors but no one who was friends with Will wouldn’t turn naughty in the long run. He remembered stealing apples from the old man’s garden and levitating his stinky old boots out of reach. Merlin truly had a peachy childhood with Will.

“Oi! Stop daydreaming and help me gather the sheep back home.”

Merlin pouted. “You can’t do that! You can’t order me around. I’m on vacation; I don’t have to listen to you.”

“I’m your prince, my words are yours to obey, be it back in Camelot or here in Ealdor.” This time it was Arthur who looked sheepishly at Hunith when he realized that he was about to slave her son around, pushing all the work on Merlin.

Ha! Served him right.

His mother was going to back him up. Even though she was normally a very gentle and calm person, there’s no way she’d simply stood by when her beloved son was being mistreated by his prat of a lord. Merlin folded his hands behind himself, bouncing on the heels of his feet and looking at Arthur haughtily over the head of his mother.

But then Hunith turned her back towards Arthur, facing Merlin with an angry stare. “Merlin! Are you always talking back to others? Didn’t I raise you to be a respectable and polite young man?” Merlin stood there with his mouth wide open. His mother was reprimanding _him_. Him, not Arthur! Something was fundamentally wrong with the world.

“But—but Arthur, he—,“ Merlin started but pressed his lips tightly together when his mother looked at him disappointedly, making him feel like a small and bad child again. It felt like he had been reverted him in time when his mother found out about him and Will pranking the mean old man in the village again. He hung his head in shame.

When he saw Hunith’s feet retreating after stroking his head gently, he dared to look up, chancing a glance at Arthur.

“Your mother loves me more than you,” Arthur mouthed at him without making a sound.

Merlin glared.

Cabbagehead. Clotpole. _Prat_!

In the end, Merlin helped Arthur, cursing him under his breath all the while. But not without thinking of choking Arthur several times, especially when he laughed at Merlin’s outraged cry when they saw Fluffyhead eating all herbs Merlin had spent collecting all day. No wonder the sheep liked Arthur so much. Those two were a pair when it came to making Merlin’s life difficult. Stupid sheep. Stupid Arthur.

Just when Merlin was about to complain to Arthur about keeping his pet at bay, old Mary and her granddaughter Audrey approached them. Merlin had thought the elderly woman had returned with his mother to provide her much sought after services as a matchmaker in the village.

“Who’s that?” Arthur turned to him, giving Merlin a questioning look. Fluffyhead, eager as ever to be as close to his beloved as possible, was held at bay with Arthur’s outstretched arm, though he was struggling under the sheep’s surprising strength and will.

“That’s Mary, the most sought after matchmaker of Camelot and Audrey. You see, Mary’s a bit magic”, Merlin explained. And then, because he couldn’t help himself, he said in the manners of the current king of Camelot, “ _Sorcery!_ “ Merlin imitated Uther’s trademark purple angry face, earning himself a glare and a cuff from Arthur.

“If she’s so famous, why have I never heard of her?” Arthur quirked an eyebrow, eyeing the pair of women with distrustful eyes.

Merlin rolled his eyes and flattened his ruffled hair which probably was a lost cause anyway, even without Arthur’s interference. “It’s probably because you’re too busy being enchanted with love spells every other day that your subconsciousness must have blocked anything related to love out.”

With the help of her adolescent granddaughter, Mary would always sit next to the well, being approached hourly by the young girls in the village who had high hopes of getting married within a year. Mary was always spoling him without treating him too much like a little boy, yet that meant, that she did her utmost best to find Merlin a bride as soon as he was of age. That he could have lived without but otherwise, he thought of her as his grandmother.

Mary covered her papery white skin and her greying hair in her green scarf as she approached them, never one who liked exposing herself to the glaring skin. She was well off enough from her business that she could afford dressing herself and her granddaughter in clothes rich in colour and so valuable, that Merlin’s yearly income wouldn’t even cover half of the price for the pale red dress Audrey was currently wearing. 

“Merlin.”

“Yes?” He lowered his head with a smile when Mary reached her wrinkly, shaky hands out for his face. There was always this warm and comforting feeling engulfing him, when she held his face, stroking his fringe gently. He remembered a time when he had to go on tiptoe to reach for Mary’s hand.

Mary’s scarf slipped down from her head to her shoulders, exposing ugly burn scars stretching all over her neck. He never asked where she got them from but he had a vague idea, given her profession and the rumours as to why her success rate is so high. “You still haven’t found a girl to take care of you, have you?”

“Wha—?” Merlin spluttered.

Behind him, he heard Arthur snorting.

“Merlin with a girl?! I can’t say I can picture this.” What annoyed him the most was that it wasn’t Arthur looking down on him but Arthur was voicing his genuine astonishment. It bugged Merlin to no end.

“It’s not like I have the chance to even entertain the idea what with you being such a useless and spoilt prat!” He ripped himself free from Mary’s hold and glared at Arthur over his shoulder.

Arthur crossed his arms in front of himself, immediately assuming a defending stance. “Oi! I’m not useless. You’re only working so much because you’re so clumsy and neglecting your tasks midway to always run off to the tavern.”

“I never was!” Just a whiff of mead made him woozy, so how could Arthur even believe the obvious excuses Gaius always made for him? If Merlin was a drunkard, Camelot would long be lost without Merlin saving everyone behind the scenes. And he had the nerve!

“Maybe I should tell your mother her son is a drunkard,” Arthur threatened and gave him a slight punch against his shoulder which to no one’s surprise, made Merlin tumble.

“Maybe you should tell her you abuse her only son?!” Merlin countered.

“My, you two get along so fine. I’m glad for the pair of you.” Mary smiled serenely at them, holding a hand to her cheek. Audrey besides her hid her laughter rather badly behind her hand.

“We don’t get along fine.” Merlin said, affronted. “Didn’t you see just now? He even bullied me in front of my own mother.”

Arthur glared at him. “Stop spouting nonsense, Merlin.”

He pointed at Arthur, shrieking, “See?”

“Now don’t be like that Merlin.” She stroked his cheek with a shaking finger. “You should be glad to have each other. So many people look so hard to find a kindred spirit and yet fail in the end. Shouldn’t you be happy that you’ve found what you never had to look for?”

Merlin pursed his lips. He wasn’t going to argue with her.

“Why don’t I help you secure your bond? Hm?” Mary crooked her index finger at her grand-daughter who understood the sign and came forward.

Audrey blushed as she brought the red string forward. Mary took the red string, twisting it around her fingers before unfastening it again and holding the string loosely in her right hand. “Please, if you’d give me your—”

But Arthur cut her off. “Oi, stop that! I’m not going to give you my hand. We’re not getting married!” Arthur shouted; his cheeks stained red when the old woman smiled at him throughout this ordeal. He took a step back and then another, retreating until he inadvertently stood behind Merlin who in turn gave him a funny look. Arthur looked embarrassedly to the ground before clearing his throat and confidently, albeit stiffly walked back to where he stood before. But Merlin noticed that he was still standing a bit behind Merlin, his hands knitted behind his back and out of reach for Mary.

Merlin brushed his shoulder against Arthur’s, batting his eyes exaggeratedly. “Aww, don’t be like this. Don’t you think I’d make a pretty bride?”

“Merlin!” Arthur said warningly between gritted teeth.

“This red string is meant for lovers, yes,” Mary cut in, looking knowingly between them, “But it was originally meant for two souls alike their mindset. You don’t necessarily have to be lovers to be tied by this string. You can be lovers, close friends, family or anything else, as long as you wish maintain this bond into the next life.”

“A bond with this idiot? I have to endure this useless servant even in my next life as well? It is not going to happen!” Arthur said exasperated, pointing at Merlin.

“Now who’s the rude one now?” Merlin folded his arms. Remembering Gwen’s words, Merlin said, “Aren’t you always saying that you want to become a farmer and wanting to take me with you?”

“Who told you that?!” Arthur asked with wide eyes, face becoming a worryingly red colour. Oh dear.

Merlin simply shrugged. “You’re just afraid that in our next lives, the world is going to repay me for being so mistreated by you and making me the royal one and you the servant.” He taunted Arthur who instantly took offense at his words.

“Fine! We’re doing this!” Arthur turned to Mary determinedly, putting his hand forth into hers and also grabbed a surprised Merlin’s wrist to put his hand above Arthur’s one.

 

“You’re not going to back out of this, alright?” Arthur grip on his wrist loosened slightly, still not letting go. When Mary put her other hand above their joint hands, sandwiching them between both of her hands, Merlin got distracted when he noticed Arthur whose eyes were still transfixed on Mary and their hands, absent-mindedly stroking Merlin’s wrist, his thumb drawing lazy circles on Merlin’s skin. Merlin felt his palm getting sweaty, feeling self-conscious about his body’s reaction as to Arthur’s touch. He meant to draw his hand away since he didn’t want Arthur to notice but when Arthur picked up on Merlin’s retreat, he fastened his hand on Merlin’s again, tighter than before. “Don’t even think of running away, Merlin.”

He knew Arthur meant chickening out of the whole hand and red string ceremony but for a moment, Merlin took his words in relation to their next lives. Merlin wondered whether Arthur was actually aware of it.

Merlin didn’t even know what Mary actually did with the string or their hands but Arthur had lost the disbelief when he turned his head towards Merlin, open-mouthed. It must have been rather fancy and impressive to get even Arthur that excited.

“Audrey.” Merlin had completely forgotten about this girl. She had her head ducked the whole time but now that he took a closer look, he noticed that she was even younger than he thought. She was still round-faced which was only enhanced by her loose messy curls framing her face and her cute freckles standing out from her pale skin. Merlin wondered when Audrey saw her grandmother at work, was she also thinking about her own marriage in the near future? He shook his head; it wasn’t even any of his business.

Audrey drew a knife out from under her apron, coming forward and stopping shortly in front of Arthur. “My lord,” she bowed before she stood on her tiptoes and brazenly picking a strand from Arthur’s hair and cutting it off. Arthur was so surprised he didn’t even flinch or pulled away from her.

“I’m sorry, “Audrey said, “I should have said something. We need both of your hair for this little ceremony.” Arthur nodded dumbfounded. “Of course.”

Merlin sighed but ducked his head for Audrey for easier access since he had a few inches more on him than Arthur. Merlin’s hair was a bit longer than Arthur’s, so he barely noticed her tugging on his hair to cut a bit off.

When their hair was collected, Mary let go off their hands, taking the hair from Audrey’s hand carefully and tying the string tightly around it. She laid it in Arthur’s hand, closing his fingers around the tied hair. “You need to take care of this token of your bond from now on, my lord.” Arthur nodded. It seemed like it was the only thing he was capable in the moment.

With a wobbly bow, Mary and her granddaughter left them alone on the field.

“So, “Arthur stared at their strands of hair in the palm of his hand, as did Merlin. “That was rather anti-climactic, don’t you think?”

Given that Merlin had spent the last few years going into the underground of Kilgharrah’s prison in the cave,  spouting about Arthur’s and Merlin destiny and other prophetic nonsense, Merlin barely listened when talked about anything related to destiny. But he agreed with Arthur nevertheless, “Same here.”

Merlin startled when he saw something big and white approach them, then tried his best not to laugh too loudly when he saw Fluffyhead running towards Arthur, tackling him with his front legs.

“Should we tie the fur of the sheep with our hair then? You know, he’s your king consort after all. I’m all for your cute little love story you have going there, _sire_.”

Arthur glared at him. “Why can’t you ever shut up, Merlin?!”

 

 

According to his mother’s will, the manor was meant to be Arthur’s when he turned twenty-five but his uncle Agravaine, the only living relative from his mother’s side, was being difficult about it. He even threatened to go to court to fight the will just to get the Du Bois manor of what he thought was rightfully his. And even though the outcome would still play into Arthur’s favour, he didn’t wish to have bad blood in the family and easily handed his mother’s last gift to his uncle over.

Therefore it came as a surprise when six months later his uncle relinquished all rights to the house which Arthur found out in the form of the house keys and a card in his mailbox a week ago. Agravaine always appeared to be a rational and clever man which gave Arthur even more of a reason to find out the meaning of the message his uncle had left him.

_That wretched thing is haunted. The house is yours. —Agravaine du Bois._

Strange, very strange, Arthur thought as he mulled over the words over and over again for three full days.

He thought that if he went to Albion, the hometown of his mother, to see the supposedly haunted house for himself, he might get a clue to the mysterious message but no such luck. The manor turned out to be even more beautiful than he imagined. He could imagine Ygraine as a young girl, running barefoot around the yard, the dining room turning into a magnificent blanket fort she’d built with her brothers where they played Princess and Dragons, could see her walking down the staircase in the west wing as a young woman in a breathtakingly beautiful evening gown with his father waiting for her at the end of the staircase. If the she hadn’t been ripped away from their lives, Arthur wondered if he would have grown up in this beautiful place.

The manor was much bigger than the flat he owned back in London and yet, Arthur already felt more at home here than back in the big city. He wasn’t sure if it was because of the knowledge that this was the place where his mother grew up and spent most of her childhood before the Du Bois family moved to the capital city when their company thrived and left the manor for the housekeepers to maintain, turning the estate into the family’s summer house over time. The place felt live in, made Arthur feel at ease and let him be one step closer to his late mother that he never got to know.

Arthur had seen pictures of Ygraine’s childhood, had seen Agravaine as a little boy posing with his mother and Arthur’s uncle Tristan in front of the estate, arms thrown casually over the shoulders of his siblings, smiling broadly with a missing tooth into the camera.

Truth to be told, Arthur has never seen his uncle happier.

There was no way that Agravaine would give up the one place that held all his happy memories from his childhood so easily. There was just no way. He swept a finger over a picture frame holding a black and white picture of the three Du Bois siblings, surprisingly it was the very same picture Arthur was just thinking of moments before. To his satisfaction, the frame was speckles, with no traces of dust. He put the picture frame back over the fireplace, glad that the house was properly taken care of. Maybe, just maybe, he thought, Arthur had put the picture there since unlike all the other pictures on the fireplace, this picture was the only candid looking one.

Arthur resolved to find out what exactly made Agravaine so scared that he’d abandon the estate he once cherished so much. He looked out of the grand window which reached all the way to the floor and lead to a wide balcony, down to the seventy yard fields which was adorned with white rose bushes around the gate and red and yellow tulips around the entrance of the manor house. He stepped closer to the window when he heard the sound of rain even though the sky was still clear. When he followed down the source for the noise down to the lovely tulips around the house, Arthur almost toppled over from laughter. There, under the balcony of the dining room, stood an extremely handsome shirtless man, who smeared the dirt of his gloves all over his cheeks as he wiped the sweat of his face. And wasn’t that just clichéd? The young house owner and the extremely tempting gardener.

Arthur opened the door to the balcony and called out to the man who was still oblivious to his presence and concentrated on watering the flowers.

“Maybe you should take a few seconds off from watering the flowers and use the water hose to clean the grime off your face?”

The man startled, splashing his right leg with a jet of water in the process. Arthur felt a bit bad for it but thankfully the damage was small since the gardener was only wearing shorts. He turned the water hose off and stared for a few seconds at Arthur’s face with confusion until his face brightened as recognition dawned on him. “Arthur Pendragon?”

He grinned. “The one and hopefully only living legend.”

That got a laugh out of the man. “Hopefully it doesn’t mean there will be bad blood between us.”

Arthur frowned. “Why is that?”

While pointing at him, he said, “My name is Lancelot, sir.”

He snorted. “As long as you’re not a Mordred, I think we’re fine, Lancelot. And just Arthur is fine.”

Lancelot smiled. “It’s Lance for you then, Arthur.” 

“Well, _Lance_ , get on with watering the flowers, I don’t want to bother you any longer,” Arthur said, while nodding to the ground.

Arthur wondered if it was destiny or if the parents of the two previous generations were fanatics of the Arthurian legends. It was plain scary how many people in his surroundings shared the name of one legendary character, starting with his immediate family.

Truth to be told, given the Arthurian inspired names from both sides of his family, Arthur had entertained the thought that the Du Bois manor might be surrounded by a moat and a drawbridge where his both uncles Tristan and Agravaine were situated in the watchtowers to watch over the estate.

He moved in into one of the many guest rooms, leaving his luggage at the end of the bed, not bothering to unpack anything.

Arthur had taken two months off from work, leaving the company into the hands of Morgana. He’d never admit it but while Arthur was the more efficient worker out of the two, he thought that Morgana had more talent than him in running the company. She had natural leading abilities unlike Arthur who was groomed to nurture them and shake off any insecurity that came with being a man in power. Whatever, the company wasn’t his first priority in the new few weeks anyway.

He threw himself on the bed, burying his face in the fluffy white pillow.

He should take a relaxing bath now since he worked up a bit of sweat over the day from driving for hours and carrying his luggage up. But he didn’t feel like he wanted to neither get up nor move from his current very comfy position in the bed.  Oh well, there was always another way to take his mind off things and relax.  Arthur turned on his back and closed his eyes.

Arthur unfastened the fly, easing his hand into his briefs. He couldn’t even remember when the last time was when he actually slept with someone. It was always harder for him to get in the mood when he just got off just for the sake’ of getting off. Arthur let his mind wander, thought back to the fit body of Lance whose sweat covered skin was glistening under the harsh sun, thought about tracing the veins on his arm, pulling at the wavy lush brown hair and exposing his neck to bite at. Arthur opened his eyes, turning his head to the ceiling.

He blinked.

Arthur was sure that he had seen something move above him but no, he must have been mistaken. It had been an even longer ride that Arthur had originally planned, what with all the delays but since he didn’t want to bother with driving with his own car here, which he’d probably barely use anyway, Arthur could only blame himself.

Just when he wanted to attended to his already slightly wilted prick, he heard a deep voice.

“Not to be rude but I’d be extremely grateful if you wouldn’t jerk off in my room.”

Suddenly, a hand materialized from out of the wall in front of Arthur, followed by a head and finally revealing the whole body of a young man. A translucent young man, to be exact, who was clad in an oversized thin shirt and brown cropped trousers with no shoes and barefoot.

 

„That’s pretty sad, mate. To think you can only manage to dream of the company of your right hand instead of that of a lovely lady.”

“What the fuck?” Even when faced with such impossibility, Arthur always managed to surprise himself, when he had the mind to cover his modesty. Arthur came face to face with a freaking ghost and still, his first thought was not to scream wildly around or to run away but to cover his dick behind the first pillow on the bed he managed to grab. Talk about priority.

“Who the fuck are you? Or more like, _what_ are you?”

The man couldn’t be much older than Arthur, probably even younger by a few years than him. He must have been in his early twenties or possibly just reaching his twenties. He grinned cheekily at Arthur, tutting. The wry grin enhanced his youthful face which was framed by dark unruly hair.

“I think it’s pretty obvious or,” he cocked his head to the side, “are you possibly soft in your head?” Then he proceeded to make a crude gesture with his hand which made Arthur’s face turn into a dark red shade even though he was the one who had his dick out just moments ago. “Probably done too much of _that_ , eh?”

“Sh—shut up up!” Arthur yelled, “And get the hell out of here and back to your ghost home or wherever you come from!”

The ghost sighed, annoyed. “This _is_ my room. It has been for decades.”

“ _Your_ room? Who decided that? This house has been inhabited by my family for centuries and I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen your face anywhere before.”

The ghost rolled his eyes. “I wonder why.”

It was a bit mind boggling at how fast Arthur often adapted to the weirdest situations and to be frank,  he himself wondered if it was because he was open-minded and retained most of his childhood naiveté or if, like Morgana often claimed, he was dropped on his head as a baby.

“Wait a minute,” Arthur held his hand in front of himself, pensively, “It couldn’t be that you’re some great-great-great uncle who was disowned and couldn’t find his rest because of some unfinished business?”

And then, because Arthur spend most of his childhood alone and he had to entertain himself, Arthur’s vivid fantasy kicked in. “Let me guess, you were the first born son but because you fell in love with some girl of lower birth, you tried to elope but were caught in the act. Am I right or am I right?”

The ghost boy gave him an appraising look. “If I were your ancestor I’d be so ashamed of myself right now. The thought of sharing the blood with such a dunderhead like you, makes me want to pass on to next life as fast as possible. Really now.”

Talk about rude. He was ready to return with biting words when Arthur registered what he was just told. “You’re not my ancestor?”

The ghost rolled his eyes and threw his arms up. “And now he has hearing problems. You poor thing.”

Arthur chose to ignore that comment. “If you’re not part of my family, then I don’t get why you’re in this manor.”

At that, the man, no, the ghost looked sad. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” Although he said that to Arthur, he wondered if the question might actually be directed at him himself.

Arthur scratched the back of his head, at a loss of words. It wasn’t like he could comfort him and even if, what could he possibly tell him to cheer up _? Sorry you’re suffering from memory loss but hey, at least you’re not actually dead-dead_. He really sucked at these things. Lost in his thoughts, he neglected to hold on to the pillow hiding his modesty which slid off his thighs. 

“You little pervert.” The ghost boy leered and for moment, Arthur wondered if he had imagined the sorrowful face. 

“Arthur,” he said, elaborating when he saw his confused face. “My name is Arthur, not pervert.” He wondered if the ghost even had a name or if he’d simply forgotten his since he was just looking blankly through Arthur.

“Arthur?” The ghost he repeated, Arthur nodded. “And you’re…? Or would you rather I call you ‘this fucking thing that came through the wall while I jerked off?”

He knitted his eyebrow together. “No, please don’t. Just call me Merlin.”

“So, you’re Arthur.” Merlin repeated, letting Arthur’s name rolling over his tongue over and over again in different ways and tenor. He stressed the first syllable and let the last of his name slid off his tongue, repeated the same with the last syllable, and stumbled over the first letter of Arthur’s name and exaggerated the hiss in the middle of his name.

 _Ar_ thur. Art _hur_. **A** rthur. Ar **th** ur.

He blushed as he heard his name said in so many different ways but then, Merlin stopped, looking at Arthur with his mouth slightly open.

“I know you.”

“You do?” Arthur asked, softly.

And then, Merlin’s child-like expression turned into a devilish grin which surprised him so much that Arthur’s hand slipped on the bed sheet and he fell on his back.

“Of course. I can’t believe I forgot about you, _chubby Pendragon_.”

This was slowly turning into a nightmare, Arthur thought for the first time in his life as he stared at the ceiling. What had he got himself into?

 

 

Arthur tapped his finger nervously on the table, earning him an annoyed glare from the blonde girl next to him. He coughed before knotting his fingers together to keep them occupied.

Alice was still attending to a man who was clad entirely in black, and not even a fashionable sleek style but rather, like some suspicious person from the 19th century who could very well be a murder suspect. Seriously, some people here really gave him the creeps. He flinched when the man turned his head, lo oking in Arthur’s direction, Arthur resisted the urge to turn away like his instincts kept telling him after being caught watching. He should have known; there was no need to try to keep holding the stranger’s gaze, not when his hat, obviously black, was pulled over his face and his collar was popped up high enough to hide most of his face. Creeper, Arthur thought.

The stranger turned back towards Alice and after a minute or two, he grabbed his tattered luggage and left the inn. Arthur noticed that the man was hobbling slightly on his left feet.

Well, whatever the man wanted, it was of no concern to him now. Arthur strode leisurely towards Alice behind the counter, even though he’d rather rush towards her and blab around his very likely paranoid concerns. Yeah right, he’d rather he’d be mentally unstable then seeing an admittedly attractive ghost shadowing him, talking to him like they’re old friends. For god’s sake, that _thing_ was telling him how chubby he was as a baby and making fun of his figure on a daily basis!

“So, Alice,” he started. Okay, nice start, Arthur. It sounded casual and calm.

“Arthur,” she smiled at him in this motherly way that Arthur relaxed slightly, his tensed shoulders falling back from their slight hunch to their natural position, “how may I help you?”

He coughed. “Have you ever, I mean, do you believe in supernatural beings?” Oh, wasn’t he just subtle? Arthur wanted to bang his head against the wall. Couldn’t he just ask her about the weather, talk about the history of this village and then slowly and smoothly ask her about strange happenings? But no, he just had to be a freaking weirdo about it.

But instead of looking concerned, Alice just smiled serenely. “The things I’ve seen, you wouldn’t believe me. Arthur, dear, what’s making you so restless?” She reached across the counter and placed her hand over Arthur’s hand which was just fiddling with a pamphlet seconds ago. Maybe he can add mummy issues to his daddy issues since he’s so easily placated by mother figures.

“I, I think my house is haunted.” Realizing what he just said, Arthur snatched his hand away, “Sorry, Alice. I’m probably just tired and imagining things.”

“Arthur, wait!” She took hold of his hand once again and stuffed something into the palm of his hand before letting him go, but not before giving a reassuring squeeze. “If anything is bothering you, just call this number on the card, alright? You can trust them. ”

He looked at the card in his hand.

_Albion’s Paranormal Investigations._

_—Gwaine & A. _

 

 

Arthur had expected this Gwaine figure to be someone a bit nerdy with long unkempt and greasy hair which was hastily tied back, a stubble and with lots of strange gimmicks on his body. But the man Arthur met was anything but what Arthur imagined.

Gwaine was a handsome man, had a roguish charm and beauty to himself that he was noticeably aware of. And while Gwaine had long hair, they were rather luscious and well-cared for, not at all greasy and a mess like he thought. And he also didn’t seem to have any bulky and strange devices him as well.

Gwaine took the seat in front of Arthur. He was glad that he chose a pub for their meeting since he could nurse a pint or two while he waited for Gwaine. Arthur was sure he would have already took flight from that scene were it not for the alcohol in his system. Even though he was slightly tipsy from the pints, Arthur was still clear headed enough to discuss his ordeal with him but still with all the alcohol, it still didn’t make him feel any less ridiculous that he had to resort to asking some freaking ghost hunter to help him get rid of his problem. Arthur couldn’t even fathom how utterly mortified he’d feel if he were sober.

“Ah, alcohol! Excellent thinking you have there!” Gwaine eyed his jug hungrily, and Arthur reluctantly, pushed his pint forward before calling out to the barmaid for another two jugs. Gwaine downed the whole beverage within four gulps, a feat that impressed even Arthur.

“You must be Arthur Pendragon?” Gwaine wiped the froth from his mouth with the back of his hand.

Arthur nodded. “Yes. And you must be Gwaine.“ Suddenly Arthur remembered the signature on the card Alice had gave him and he looked around. “You’re alone? I thought the ‘A’ on the card stood for your partner?”

“Oh that,” Gwaine brushed him offhandedly, leaning comfortably back on the seat and throwing an arm casually over the back of the wooden chair. “I’m usually the only one doing the dirty work. He’s prefers working besides the scenes, not that I mind. Well, he’s actually my master, so it’s not like I have any say in the matter.”

“Master?” Arthur asked, irritated.

“Whoops, my bad.” The barmaid approached them, interrupting their conversation but it seemed like she heard the last bit of their conversation since her bored look was swapped with that of interest and curiousity. Oh god, she was probably thinking of the worst. It wasn’t like Arthur was thinking of coming back to this pub since he chose the seediest and the farest away in case someone might overhear them. But still. Arthur hung his head in shame. How humiliating.

Gwaine heaved his jug of mead, nodding to the retreating barmaid gratefully, “What I meant is that Alator is my mentor but if you were to meet him, you’d understand why I used this archaic expression. My god, that man is out of the world.” He shook his head, “Oh, but he’s a good one. He single-handedly raised me when I was left orphaned and homeless.”

 _Teacher?_ Arthur wondered why a ghost hunter needed a teacher but whatever solved his problem now. He couldn’t care less.

“Right,” Arthur finally drawled out. He wondered if Gwaine was the type to chatter mindlessly and sharing private details to put the minds of his already freaked clients at ease. But when he saw Gwaine wolfing down the complementary chips on the table, Arthur had the dawning thought that this was just Gwaine’s personality, laid-back and unguarded. “So about my delicate problem,” Arthur started only to be interrupted by Gwaine.

“About your house being haunted by a little ghost?” He flinched at Gwaine’s loud voice, wishing he’d be speaking in a hushed tone about this matter since Arthur didn’t want any of the patrons here listening in on their conversation nor caught a whiff of it. But thankfully, the pub was so full and the chatter around them so loud, no one even gave them a glance. He sighed in relief.

Arthur leaned with a shoulder on the door frame. So much about having a relaxing day, staying in.

The man in front of him was clad entirely in black, from his sturdy and dirty boots to his old fashioned leather jacket under the thick and already pilling coat; and although Arthur just stood an arm length away from him, there was an obvious stench coming from him, like the moldy smell of a forest after a rain. Arthur was probably being a city boy about it but unlike most people who brighten at the sight of nature after the rain, Arthur just wanted to put his headphones on and stay in all day and read until he has forgotten all about the wet pavement, the dripping leaves and the colourful umbrellas. He could just barely stop himself from turning his face the other way from the stranger.

The trinkets attached to his belt jingled when he moved forward, thrusting his umbrella into Arthur’s chest. “I’m looking for Ygraine Du Bois. Would you mind fetching her for me, young man?”

Yeah, it wasn’t just the smell that left an unfavourable impression on Arthur. “I’m assuming you mean Ygraine _Pendragon_ but I’m sorry, I don’t think I can do that.”

The elderly man looked irritated, obviously displeased with this answer. “And why is that?”

Arthur put the dripping umbrella next to the door, putting his hand on the frame to stop the man from entering. “Ygraine Pendragon has been dead for a long time and since I’m not too familiar with necromancy”, Arthur gave him an once over, thinking, _You probably have a bigger chance_ , "I’m afraid that any unsettled businesses you have with her, have to be settled with me, sir.”

The man took his hat off, revealing a balding head. “That’s really unfortunate. She was always such a beautiful and bright girl.” The man looked disappointed, though Arthur doubted it has anything to do with his mother’s early passing. He sensed Arthur’s hostility and unwillingness to grant him entry to the house. “My name is Aredian. I’m an old acquaintance of Ygraine and her father. And who may you be, young man?”

“I’m her son. _Arthur_.”

Aredian’s eyes lit up. “My, she really went through with her plans. Always such a headstrong girl; that little Ygraine.” Aredian chuckled, his eyes gleaming. “Did you know that if you had turned out to be a girl, she’d have named you Elaine? It seems like the obsession with the Arthurian legends really runs through the family.”

“Is that so?” Arthur gave the man another once-over. Looking closer, he seemed a bit familiar. But wouldn’t he remember such an off-looking character such as Aredian?

Suddenly, Aredian’s demeanor changed, going from unpleasant and haughty to familiar and overfriendly. “You see, I’m actually in a bind. I meant to visit my old friend Ygraine and didn’t book a room in the inn but seeing the situation as it is, would you mind letting me stay here for a few days?”

Arthur’s instincts told him to chase Aredian away but the boy in him that never got to truly know his mother, was curious.

He hesitated, before he answered, “I’m afraid I can only accommodate you for one week at most.” Gwaine had promised him that he’d contact him again as soon as he got in touch with his partner. Apparently, Alator was on some other case with paranormal activity or whatever Gwaine had said. He doubted Gwaine would call in the next few days.

Remembering his good upbringing, he offered, “Why don’t you come in first?” He stepped aside to let Aredian enter. Arthur let his eyes drop to the ground next to Aredian’s feet, noticing his rather heavy-looking luggage. He reached down for the luggage though, before he could even touch the handle of the suitcase, Aredian slapped his hand away and grabbed the suitcase himself.

Arthur raised an eyebrow.

Despite his suspicious behaviour, Aredian carried on like nothing happened. Either he was hiding something or he was extremely sensitive when it came to his own property. Arthur shrugged his shoulders. He shouldn’t let that get to him.

He closed the door behind him. “You know, there’s something I’m curious about you, Aredian.”

“Ah, please don’t hesitate to ask. You went out of you way to shelter me, I’ll try to answer anything you want within my ability. Aredian gave him a winning smile and yet, it was more than obvious that it never reached his eyes. He didn’t even feel the need to _try_ to act the part of the nice uncle, Arthur supposed.

“Right,” Arthur drawled.

He walked passed Aredian, stopping shortly before him. “You weren’t close enough to my mother that you weren’t even aware of neither her death nor my birth, meaning you’ve lost touch with her decades ago. However, you’ve came here taking in the risk that my mother might have married and moved away.”

Aredian cocked his head, smiling lazily at him. “So? I thought you wanted to ask me something?”

Arthur pursed his lips. There was something about Aredian that made his skin crawl. “Visiting my mother wasn’t the only reason you’re here, right? You have some other business with this town, isn’t that so?”

Aredian’s lips pursed but it was gone so fast that Arthur almost believed he imagined it. _Almost_. “Aren’t you a clever one?” He laughed to himself while he pulled his leather gloves off his hands, digit by digit. “But you’re right. I suppose you can call me an art dealer and I’m currently looking for new treasures. And isn’t that town just perfect for this occasion?”

Arthur nodded in acknowledgement. Aredian stopped shortly before the fireplace, accessing the chandelier over him with a sniff and turned his attention towards the framed family pictures of the Du Bois and Pendragon family in front of him. His body tensed for a moment and if it wasn’t for that, Arthur probably wouldn’t have noticed him turning greedy eyes on a particular photograph of a young Ygraine with Arthur’s then-young grandfather.

“While it’s true that this town is known for its historical flair and cultural aspect, I doubt we’d have anything that valuable here that an art dealer would go out of his way to come here.” He snatched the picture frame out of Aredian’s hands and pretended to dust the frame while he curiously checked for the reason of Aredian’s blatant interest with this particular picture.

The Ygraine in the photo couldn’t be older than six standing next to her father, Arthur’s grandfather who died a year after his birth, petting her hair affectionately. Even so, the focus of this photo lay on his mother since his grandfather’s face was half cropped of. But still, Arthur couldn’t make out what was so interesting with this picture. They were standing before a lake, probably the very same lake Arthur passed by coming here, with Ygraine wearing a yellow summer dress spotted with small polka dots all over and matching yellow schoolgirl flats with a white bow in the front.

Arthur’s brows furrowed. Nothing seemed out of place. His eyes travelled all over the photograph for another minute and that when he noticed that his mother was clutching not only a pink wildflower in her hand but also what looked like a bronze medal. Arthur wondered how he could miss something this obvious. And on looking closer, there was a little bird resting on top of a cross on the medal.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” Aredian’s voice startled him out of his thoughts and Arthur put the frame back in place and stepped back. His eyes were still latched on the photograph in Arthur’s hand.

“Ygraine’s sigil. It used to be the crest of the Du Bois family a few centuries back before it was abandoned. The pigeon used to the patron of your mother’s family and stood for peace and prosperity.” Aredian shrugged, leaning on the wall next to the fireplace. “Well, at least that’s what I heard. A pretty cute little history you have there, don’t you think?”

Arthur scoffed. “Given that pigeons are a pain in the arse and the equivalent of flying rats, I’m glad I don’t have to treat them as sacred gods.” 

“Don’t be like that. As her son, you should appreciate your mother’s heirloom more. Come to think of it, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind if I take a look at the real deal, right?”

When Aredian patted him overly familiarly on the shoulder, Arthur began to regret his decision to take Aredian him. If there’s one thing he absolutely couldn’t stand, then it was people who tended to overstep boundaries whenever it suited them. Take Merlin for example, though; maybe Merlin wasn’t the best example.  Merlin wasn’t just out of the world which couldn’t be seen as a compliment in this case but being the cheeky brat that he was, Merlin took the piss out of him every morning by literally going through Arthur.

“Well?”

Arthur rolled his eyes and shrugged the heavy hand off his shoulder.

“That might be the case if I actually know where it is. I’m not even sure my mother still has it or if uncle Agravaine has already pawned it.”  

“Shame.”

 Arthur nodded.

Aredian’s whole demeanor changed drastically and Arthur could swear that he felt the second it happened, that the whole room turned for a fracture of a second eerily cold. His mouth thinned and he tapped his thigh impatiently. “Then I don’t want to hold you up anymore. You’ve only arrived here as well, right? I’m going to go up and rest in one of the guest rooms in the east wing.” He grabbed his luggage effortlessly and gave Ygraine’s photo one last glance before turning around and marching the stairs up. “No need to call me for dinner,” he called out as an afterthought.

Arthur watched his retreating form with interest, watched Aredian’s heavy steps and with each step, the trinkets on his belt jingled. He walked a bit strangely though as if he was trying to avoid putting much weight on his left feet. And that’s when Arthur realized it.

Aredian was the stranger from the inn.

 

“You shouldn’t have let him in.”

Arthur flinched. “You were here?”

“The whole time.” Merlin slid past the wall and floated next to Arthur. Thankfully, Aredian was already out of earshot.

“And why shouldn’t I’ve done it?”

“There’s something off about this old geezer. I don’t trust him.” It wasn’t like Arthur couldn’t understand him. He also had a weird feeling about Aredian but that doesn’t mean he could simply throw out the first person who could very well tell him about a side of his mother he never knew off. A young Ygraine before Arthur. But then again, there was only ever an Ygraine before she gave birth to him. He rubbed the balls of his against his temples in circling motions and closed his eyes. Way to get himself depressed again.

“Arthur? Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m good.” He dragged a hand through his hair, sighing all the while. There probably would never be a time where he wouldn’t turn to self-loathing when he remembered what he robbed his mother of through his sheer existence.

“Are you sure? You look all drained of colour. Hell, you look almost just like me!” Merlin’s voice was dripping with concern despite his obviously faked cheery voice and yet, Arthur couldn’t help but snap at him, taking his pent-up anger out at him.

“I already said I’m bloody fine! Just piss off and leave me alone,” Arthur hissed.

Merlin’s mouth dropped open in surprise and shock.

He recovered fastly and squinted his eyes at Arthur. “No need to turn all prissy on me, you wanker.”

Merlin slipped through the ground.

Great, now Arthur had upset him.

 

 

Living his Aredian was alright, or so Arthur liked to think. Since Aredian’s arrival, he got freakish nightmares of someone scratching against the walls and one of them also included an ashen haired woman whose slippery pale face was contorted into a silent scream as she tried to crawl up a moldy well. Her eyes were hidden behind a big chunk of her wet hair across half of her face and it was more than obvious that she was struggling to even stand up as the fabric of her golden laced white dress got heavier as it soaked up the water in the well.

The woman appeared twice more nights and each time the well lost on height and Arthur realized that she wasn’t simply trying to scream at him for help but that she was actually mouthing proper words at him. Recently, a window appeared in front of her in the well and instead of opening the window, she scratched her nails bloody, trying to get the brick directly underneath the middle of the window out.

_“Arthur, Arthur! Why didn’t you save me?”_

He rubbed his eyes sleepily and followed the soft-spoken voice, looking down on himself. From his chest bloomed two bare arms; its palms placed themselves weightlessly on his sides like they were trying to pull their whole weight up through their arms.

“Even though you promised to always be with me,”the voice wailed. 

Arthur gave a shout and promptly sat up. As he did, his whole room lit up with the candles set up and where the limbs on his chest were just a moment ago, sat a delighted Merlin.

“Ha! Got you so bad there!”

“’The fuck was that stint you pulled there, Merlin?!”

Merlin blithely ignored his question and draped himself over Arthur. Merlin’s limbs looked like they’ve melted right through Arthur, until only Merlin’s arms, where he rested his chin, and his crossed legs were visible. “Don’t get you knickers in a twist,” Merlin rolled his eyes, “You were desperately screaming for your mommy and I wanted to wake you up before you embarrassed yourself further.”

“Cut it out! I—I didn’t scream for my mother,” Arthur protested. He blinked confusedly, thinking back to his nightmare. Maybe he was a bit more scared than he initially thought he was which might have warranted his infantile behaviour. 

“Whatever,” Merlin shrugged.

“And it’s not like I can embarrass myself any further in front of you, you big bully.” Arthur sighed. His heart rate was still going a mile a minute.

“Oh, I wasn’t talking about me,” Merlin sing-songed.  He gave a nod towards Arthur’s door, “I was talking about your night owl of a roommate.”

Arthur arched an eyebrow. “Aredian? What about him?”

“For real? You must be deaf.” Merlin hung his head, resigned. “Don’t tell me you haven’t realized that this creeper is sneaking around my manor with a blueprint of it.”

“ _Your_ manor?”

“ _That’s_ what you got out of it? I’m the first and oldest occupant here. You? You’re only the owner in name but I’ll generously let you call it ‘ _our_ house’.” He melted through Arthur and before he could roll his eyes yet again at Merlin’s capricious behavior, he returned at Arthur’ side, quite literally so.

“Anyway, I myself have done some snooping around and interestingly, I’ve found out that he crossed out the corridors and rooms in the east wing in his blueprint. And what’s more,” Merlin glared at the door, “he’s hanging around the west wing with us now.”

 

After some goading from Merlin, Arthur tiptoed to his door and opened it as quietly as possible to peek through it.

Aredian was knocking on each of the bricks of the wall next to the old playroom and when one of the bricks gave a hollow sound, he reached under his coat and brought forth a chisel and a hammer.  It made soft tinkling sounds as Aredian tried to keep his quiet as he used both tools to get the brick of the wall. Either he didn’t know Arthur’s room was in the same corridor or thought him a stupid boy who slept like a log.

“Merlin!” Arthur hissed. “Find out what he’s doing.”

“Now he believes me.” Merlin scoffed and as he went out the door, he muttered so quietly that, fortunately, only Arthur caught it, “Told you, you should have thrown him out.”

Arthur gripped the door handle tighter when Aredian got the brick out of the wall.

 

 

If there was one benefit to being a ghost it would be the silent approach and the invisibility at will. Merlin could be right up under their face and still, they wouldn’t notice him. Just like now.

He had a book on him now which was conveniently opened to a marked page. When Merlin got closer, he tried to read it but only got a headache looking at the cursive letters that looked more like paintings than actual letters. Merlin dropped the reading in favour of the graphics.

There was a reptile’s talon and pictured above it, was a dragon’s claw; next to it was a dragon breathing fire to a sword and both images were pointing down to an even bigger image of a bleeding dragon whose blood streamed into a gold cup that a man held out, who was naked from his torso down and had a triskelion painted on his chest.

Merlin was interrupted from further looking at it when he heard Aredian’s excited albeit quiet laugh next to him.

Aredian licked his lips in anticipation as he put both chisel and hammer to his side on the ground and groped blindly at the rather deep hole in the wall before he lingered and ripped his hand out of the wall like he had been burnt. Though, instead of being in pain, he looked giddy with excitement when his eyes latched onto the once white silk handkerchief in his hand which was now yellowed and frayed at the corners and which looked like it only served as a wrapping around a round thick object.

He unwrapped the handkerchief impatiently and retrieved what looked like a medal from out of it. Merlin leaned in closer and as he did, he noticed that it wasn’t a medal but an oversized bronze locket with a loop on top but with a missing chain. It looked pretty similar to the medal-like object Ygraine was holding in the photograph with the Du Bois crest on top of it, but, Merlin noted, this one was evidently thicker than the one Ygraine had. 

With satisfaction, Merlin saw that Aredian stared at the locket in disbelief, turning it around and around in his hand until he finally opened the object.

Curious, Merlin peeked over Aredian’s shoulder and was greeted to the sight of a young and dolled up Ygraine smiling gently at him through a photo. And to his surprise, she was wearing her sigil from her other picture in this one as a brooch over a lacy white stole around her shoulders.

Aredian clicked his tongue, shoved the brick back into the wall and was about to stuff the locket into his coat pocket but Merlin thwarted the theft.

His eyes burned, the only sensation Merlin had ever felt whenever he did anything he deemed ‘ghostly’, and a big gust of wind knocked all the windows in the corridor open, whipping harshly into Aredian’s face. The shock was enough to send the locket skittering over the ground and with a bit of help from Merlin, right before Arthur’s room.

He materialized briefly behind Aredian’s back and raised a chin challengingly at Arthur before surging through the wall back to Arthur’s room.

Now Arthur only needed to play along.

 

 

Something compact and clearly made out of medal fell right before his room and Arthur took Merlin’s cue and ripped his door gaping wide open.

“Aredian? What are you doing here? This is the west wing,” Arthur said while he faked a yawn like he had just woken up. He scratched his stomach through his black t-shirt for good measure.

Aredian’s eyes widened in alarm. “I—“

Without waiting for a proper answer, Arthur turned his attention to the metal object right before his feet. He bent down to pick it up. It was a locket.

“ _Open it_ ,” Merlin whispered behind him, hiding inside the safety of Arthur’s room.

When he did what he was told, Arthur almost dropped the locket in shock. It wasn’t the sight of his own mother disturbing him but the impact of the realization at finding out that the woman from his nightmare was wearing the exact same dress as his mother. Arthur felt nauseous. The woman in the well was Ygraine all along.

“Ask him again why he’s here, Arthur.”

“I—,” Arthur cleared his throat to find his voice again. His tongue felt like sandpaper. “I’m still waiting for an answer, Aredian.”

Aredian turned all smiles; his voice was smooth as silk when he replied, “Ah! You found it. You see, Arthur, I was actually here to give you this locket Ygraine once gave me as a token of friendship. But I felt uneasy to deprive you of your own heirloom and came to quietly return it back to its rightful owner.”

What a fucking liar.

Arthur turned his attention towards the chisel and the hammer on the ground, making sure that Aredian followed his trail of sight and gave Aredian the best business smile he could muster. “You’re too generous. I knew I made the right decision to house you.”

Nothing in Aredian’s posture or his face betrayed his nervousness as he bid Arthur good night and disappeared around the corner.

Arthur breathed out a sigh of relief.

“You know,” Merlin sidled in front of him, “I completely forgot about it but now I remember that this is probably not the only heirloom Ygraine hid. When she a child, she had the habit of hiding her treasures in holed out bricks around the house. She might even have done it with her sigil.”

“I know.” Arthur answered.

He remembered bloody finger tips scratching viciously at the bricks of the wall, the water rising and Ygraine not making any attempts to open the window to save herself.

“I might even know where it is.”

 

 

“That’s the thirteenth window now, Arthur. Are you sure you know where it is?” Merlin’ mood turned fouler the more windows Arthur checked. So far, they had nine misses, the missing chain to the locket, and a bangle in the shape of intertwining leaves with an amber stone set in in the middle of it and curiously, a silver ring with the Pendragon seal in place of a stone.

“Shut up for a minute, will you, Merlin? You can go spook children or whatever you do when you’re not pestering me but please, for the love of god, be quiet.” Arthur made use of the chisel and hammer Aredian left behind and carefully rapped the concrete around the brick underneath the window out.

“And leave you alone with the creep? No way! Who will warn you when he’s close by?”

“You’re so cute when you worry about me, “ Arthur cooed.

He turned the brick around and to his glee, this one was holed out as well and this time, the object was wrapped up in a red handkerchief. He had a good feeling with this one.

“Cute? Me?” Merlin asked surprised with wide eyes. Even though Merlin was unable to blush, Arthur knew one thing for sure.

Merlin was embarrassed. And if blood were coursing through his veins, he’d probably be flushed from down his chest to the tips of his ears. He knotted his fingers, loosened them from each other and repeated the process. He also plain obviously refused to look anywhere but the ground.

“But you _are_ adorable.” It wasn’t even a lie, Arthur thought to himself. Merlin’s innocent reaction was truly endearing.

“Don’t make me laugh,” Merlin exclaimed, fleeing from the scene by surging through the ceiling.

Arthur shook his head, smiling but went all business within seconds when he tucked the neckerchief gingerly out of the brick and stared intently at it.

He didn’t even need to unwrap it; the corners of the cloth fell easily apart when Arthur placed it on his palm and revealed the object they were looking for.

His mother’s sigil.

 

“How nice of you to find it for me. Saves me lots of time.” 

Aredian rounded through the corner, eyes latched onto the medal in Arthur’s palms. “Figures, the child knows its parents best. Now be a good boy and hand it over.”

He reached a bony hand out.

“No.”

“No?” Aredian repeated, slowly. He cocked his head to the side, smiling coldly at Arthur.

_She scratched at the wall, not even trying to open the window. Even though the window was slightly ajar, she completely disregarded it and hit and scratched at the brick._

_Ah_ , Arthur thought, _it must be something very dear to her._

He had wondered why the dream kept repeating but that was until he realized that the woman was his mother.

Arthur took a deep breath.“It’s mine. It was always meant for me.”

“Meant for you?!” Aredian exclaimed, incredulously. “You know nothing of its worth. You don’t even deserve to touch it, Arthur Pendragon. But I’ve spend the last two decades looking for it.“ he reached into the breast pocket of his inner jacket and brandished a bottled glass with what of a white talon the sized of Arthur’s pinky finger which was nestled in white powder.

“See this? Believe it or not, it used to be part of a dragon.”

If it was a dragon’s talon, Arthur wondered whether the white powder was grounded from the talon since it was way too small for a dragon’s claw.

“Do you know why Ygraine’s sigil is so special?” The talon inside somersaulted through the white powder as he twirled the bottle between his fingers.

Arthur shook his head.

Aredian patiently explained, “It’s been forged with the same metal as Carnwennan.” 

“Carnwennan?”

“Don’t you know anything?” He rolled his eyes. “Carnwennan was King Arthur’s dagger. But you know what? The thing that makes it special isn’t the ownership but the way it has been forged.”

Arthur arched an eyebrow. “Which is?”

“ _Dragon’s breath_.”

Arthur scoffed but his eyes widened slightly when he spotted Merlin hovering behind Aredian.

He humoured Aredian, “What are you truly after? Is a dragon next on your list?”

He tried to make eye contact with Merlin but Merlin was too transfixed on the bottled talon in Aredian’s grip.

“A dragon? What do I care for a rotting reptile? No. I want their life; a dragon’s immortality.” He cornered Arthur to the wall and drew a white hilted dagger with a thin curved blade from his belt, unsheathing it from it from its lather scabbard in the scabbard.  “Now hand it over, Pendragon.”

 

“God, you’re so stupid. They have longevity not immortality. Everything has an expiring date, don’t you know?” 

Aredian gave a frightened shout and turned around, only to be greeted by a very undead Merlin. “What the hell?!”

Arthur used this distraction and threw Ygraine’s sigil over where Merlin stood, or more like floated. It was obvious that not only did Arthur forget that Merlin would never have been able to catch the sigil but also Merlin did since he reached out for the heirloom which unsurprisingly passed through his translucent body.

Arthur attributed it to the adrenaline rush but he was pretty sure that when the sigil surged through Merlin, the medal slowed down in its motions, almost like it was stalled there.

 

_“You’ve saved my life, mister!” The blond-haired girl exclaimed. She tilted her head to the side and gathered her curling hair in her tiny hands and pressed the water out of her hair. “You’re amazing! I can’t believe someone your age is still strong enough to carry me out of the water, “she said wonderingly._

_He passed a hand through his hair which was now a fading grey in its wet state. “Nothing is like it seems, little girl. Appearances can be deceiving.”_

_“So you’re younger than you look?”_

_“No, I’m actually much, much older than I look, Ygraine.” He petted the crown of her fair hair._

_She blinked up at him. “How do you know my name?”_

_The image blurred and Merlin’s eyes fluttered shut. And the next time he opened his eyes again, he saw the sigil placed into Ygraine’s outstretched palm. She was wearing a yellow dress with white polka dots now and her hair was now dry and clipped to the side with ringlet locks cascading over her right shoulder._

_“Are you sure, mister?”_

_She looked up at him with big, unsure eyes and half pouting lips. He felt the stabbing pain again when he saw the uncanny resemblance, softened and rounder by infancy. He wondered if he looked as much like her as a child like he did as an adult._

_He knelt down on one knee to be on eyelevel with her. “Of course, since it was yours to begin with.”_

Merlin’s head hammered with the onslaught of images in his mind.

“Hurts,” he whimpered, crumbling down.

“I don’t care if you’re a ghost or even a deity, you will not stand in my way.” Aredian, already recovered from his shock, lifted a vial in his hand and flicked the cap of it off. He flung the content which looked like tiny white crystals towards Merlin. _Salt?_

When the salt touched his form, Merlin, to Arthur’s complete shock, screamed in agony like his skin had been burnt.  

_“Merlin!”_

Aredian laughed viciously out but then the most incredible thing happened. Merlin’s eyes turned golden and the white powder in Aredian’s palm enflamed, turning the glass bottle black until it burst. And then, even the shards went up in flames as they stuck into Aredian’s skin.

Arthur was chilled to the bones as he witnessed the shards turning Aredian’s skin golden where they touched and spreading out until it covered his entire body.

Aredian didn’t go up in flames. His body collapsed into itself to the ground, imploding, leaving no trace of his existence behind.

Arthur went eerily calm at the sight.

“Did I…kill him?” Merlin’s eyes had returned to its original blue, though they were now filled with fear.

“I don’t know,” Arthur replied, truthfully.

“Merlin,“ Arthur’s eyes were glued to the ground where Aredian just stood, “has this happened before?”

He heard Merlin sob. “Not like this. Never like this.”

Arthur closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he solved his resolve.

“Merlin,” Arthur grabbed the medal in his palm tightly, “have you ever thought about crossing over?”

 

 

Gwaine whistled. „Is that your house? Not bad.“

“It’s alright, I guess.” Arthur scratched the back of his head. He had no idea how one was supposed to hunt ghosts. Were they supposed to wait until night falls to get on with it? Did they need special ghost hunter equipment? He doubted he had anything sufficient I his house. And most of all, he wondered how Gwaine wanted to handle Merlin. He chanced a glance at Gwaine who looked like he just rolled out of bed after sleeping in yesterday’s clothes. Given what Arthur had seen of him, it was probably very likely.

“Hey, um, aren’t you supposed to, I don’t know, have some devices on you?” Gwaine was dressed rather simply in black jeans and a baby blue unbuttoned shirt with a back shirt underneath it. And since the sleeves of his button-up were rolled up, there wasn’t even a chance that he was hiding a weapon or anything of the likes underneath it.

“Oh, that,” Gwaine held his right arm up and shook his wrist slightly and said while pointing at his bracelet there, “I only need this one here.” His bracelet consisted of a dull blue stone and a black cord going through a hole in it to tie it around his wrist. Truly, it was barely anything remarkable.

“Suit yourself.” Arthur said, not impressed. He began to wonder whether appointing the job to Gwaine was really a good idea after all.

Gwaine looked expectantly at him. “Aren’t you going to ask me?”

“Ask you what?” Arthur was confused.

“Aren’t you going to ask me why a good-looking guy like me is hunting ghosts in the countryside instead of making the big money by relying on his mind-blowing beauty?” Gwaine looked so pleased and smug like Arthur had asked the question he wanted to hear, instead of being the one who was just asked it himself.

“No, I’d rather not. It’s none of my business nor do I care about it.” Was Gwaine even taking his job seriously at all?

Instead of taking the cue and let their conversation be cut off, Gwaine began to chatter without a care in the world, “It’s actually tear-jerking story. It all began in my childhood. You know, I’m actually on orphan and after being taking by an elderly man, his name is Gaius between, I even gained a cute little brother.”

“Gwaine,” Arthur cut him off, “It’s all nice and sweet but is your story even taking us anywhere? I don’t want to offend you but your supposedly heartbreaking childhood story is the last thing on my mind right now.”

“Aww, don’t be like that,” Gwaine swung his around casually over Arthur’s shoulder,” you’ll love my little story. It has everything a blockbuster needs to be successful. It has friendship, family bonding, adventures and best of all, a mystery that has yet to be solved!”

Arthur brushed his arm off his shoulder. “Still not interested. Look, if you’re not going to help me get rid of my ghost problem, you might as well go now. ”

Gwaine sighed. “Alright, alright. But you’re missing out on something!” He marched forward into the dining hall but then stopped, abruptly, turning to Arthur.

Arthur sobered. “What? Is he here? Have you spotted him?”

“Ah, no.” Gwaine scratched his chin. “I was just wondering if you were interested in seeing a picture of my little brother after all?”

He wanted to lash out on Gwaine; he really wanted to but instead, Arthur internally counted down from ten to calm himself down. “No, I don’t want to. Gwaine, could it be you have a serious brother complex?”

“You think so?” Gwaine didn’t seem to take offense, no, he beamed at Arthur as if he’s just got the biggest compliment he’s ever received so far. “It’s not like you could fault me if it’s true. Merlin has got the most adorable dimples you’ve ever seen. And he was always too tiny for his age.”

Arthur’s ears perked up. “Did you say _Merlin_?”

“Hmm? Yeah, it’s pretty old-fashioned, isn’t it? Well, it’s not like I’m one to say given my name. Want to see a picture?” Gwaine reached into his back pocket and retrieved his wallet.

It couldn’t be possible. Gwaine’s Merlin was younger than him and yet, Arthur’s Merlin had claimed that he was around for Ygraine’s childhood. They couldn’t be the same person; the numbers didn’t add up.

Arthur reached for the picture Gwaine handed him but he only caught a glimpse of a dark mop of hair and a flash of a cherubic child when Gwaine’s wrist gleamed an electric blue and something fell on his head at the same time, surprising him so much that he staggered and had to lean on the dining table. Tentatively, he reached for the crown of his head and felt something soft and in the shape of a halo there. He grabbed for that something and rolled his eyes when he came face to face with that unknown object. It was a flower crown.

Merlin was at work again. Great. Just great.

“Very funny.” Arthur angrily threw the flower crown to the ground, brushing a few stubborn petals from his hair. After what happened with Aredian, Arthur had told him about Gwaine’s arrival. Arthur knew how cruel he was towards him by basically chasing him away after such a big shock but they both also knew that Merlin, having no self-control over his ghost powers was a ticking time bomb. Who knew what could trigger the next outburst?

Merlin had disappeared without a word after that. Until now. And it looked like Merlin had fully returned to his old, playful self, Aredian completely forgotten.

“Aww, I don’t know why you’re so prissy about it. It’s actually really cute. Can I also get one?” Gwaine asked into the room. Arthur was surprised at how unfazed he looked, given the fact that a freaking flower crown floated around in the air. But then again, these occurrences shouldn’t be so out of the blue for someone who did this for a living.

Merlin seemed to have listened since he obliged, and turned the red roses from the vase on the dining table into a beautiful albeit more simple flower crown than Arthur’s, that he floated towards Gwaine’s head, letting it fall the last few inches on itself on his head.

“How cute. I think he likes me best!” Gwaine touched the flower crown, eyeing himself in the reflection of the windows. “I don’t know why you want to get rid of such a cute little spirit. Isn’t he just precious, Arthur?”

Arthur huffed. Gwaine found himself with a pretty and fresh set of roses while Arthur only got three days old dianthuses. Of course, he’d think Merlin adorable and endearing since he received special treatment from Merlin. 

“You only think him precious because you’re as immature as him.” He crossed his arms in front of him, trying and failing to not look as put off as he felt.

“Aren’t you going to praise me?” Arthur whipped his head to the right when he heard the voice next to his hear. But there was no one. Merlin’s excited laughter filled the room and with that, the curtains whipped wildly around despite there not being any wind.

“Why would I praise you?” Arthur angrily called out. He hated not being able to see Merlin, hated being in a disadvantage.

“I just learnt that I was capable of doing something as intricate as braiding a flower crown. Don’t you think I deserve to at least hear a ‘Good, job, Merlin’?” 

“So that’s your little mischievous roommate, Arthur?” Gwaine stared at his electric blue shining stone on his bracelet which gleamed brighter the closer he got to Arthur. That stone must be something like a ghost detector, Arthur mused.

“Who’s that guy?” Merlin whispered.

 _Ah_. It looked like Merlin had been still busy making the flower crown when he invited Gwaine in. Arthur stared at the discarded flower crown on the crown which now was more of a crown made of stems than of flowers. He felt a bit guilty now for wasting Merlin’s efforts. Thinking back on it; wasn’t it the first and so far only present Merlin gave him? Alright, now his guilt was full on and Arthur felt miserable.

“That’s Gwaine,” Arthur answered. _A paranormal investigator, a ghost hunter._ _Your demise._

“Ah, lovely. I didn’t think you’d have any friends, Arthur.” Merlin danced around him. One moment he was to his left and the next, Merlin’s voice was in his right ear. He knew that Merlin couldn’t breathe, couldn’t leave any physical trace of himself behind and yet, Arthur felt a tickle in his ear when Merlin whispered in his ear.

Arthur ignored Merlin’s belittling remark and straight-out asked Gwaine, “How is it done? What I want to know is what will happen to him after you’ve captured him? Will he finally be able to rest?”

As if on cue, Merlin let out a shocked gasp and then hissed into his ear, “What’s the meaning of this, Arthur? You want to get rid of me?”

He closed his eyes, blocking out Merlin’s very existence from his mind. It wasn’t like it helped. Merlin was still invisible, closing his eyes, changed nothing but made him hyper aware of Merlin’s presence. “We’ve already talked about it,” Arthur whispered back. If Merlin couldn’t do it on his own, he didn’t mind using an external force to speed things up.

“Um, about that,” strangely, Gwaine began to blush and looked anywhere but in Arthur’s general direction, “you might not like to hear it.”

“Gwaine,” Arthur said, warningly, daring him to speak up.

“I shoot ‘em.”

“You _shoot_ them,“ Arthur repeated, taken aback. He wondered where Merlin was right now and how he felt. “What the hell, Gwaine?! You—you don’t even have a gun on you!”

“Oh, I do.” Gwaine bent low and rolled up his jeans to reveal a tiny sleek gun, taped to his ankle with a black and wide band. He reached for the gun and walked forwards towards Arthur, placing the gun directly over Arthur’s chest.

He imagined Merlin was hovering close by, watching Gwaine with a hawk eye. “Maybe it’s better if you leave now, Gwaine.” He never meant to let any harm befall Merlin. Arthur was foolish for thinking that getting a paranormal investigator on the job would mean that Merlin would be safely guided home. How stupid of him.

“After we’ve caught them, we’ll aim at where their hearts are supposed to be and then shoot them.“ He pulled the trigger. Arthur was too shocked to even have the time to shut his eyes but he heard Merlin, so audible that Gwaine couldn’t have missed it, whisper his name at the same time Gwaine had pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened. And then, it felt like a comfortable warmth engulfed his heart, spreading slowly but surely throughout his body.

Arthur blinked. “W—what?” There was a gun shot. He was sure of it. He heard the shot. Although the gun shot was muted, probably thanks to a silencer, there was no doubt about it. But instead of being hurt, let alone dead, Arthur felt like coming home; felt safe.

Gwaine chuckled, retracting the weapon from Arthur’s chest. “Don’t worry, it can’t harm an ordinary person.” As to further stress his point, Gwaine pulled the trigger yet again: this time pointing the muzzle at his own palm.

“ _Gwaine!_ ”

“Didn’t I tell you not to worry, Arthur?” Out of Gwaine’s palm, a blue glowing ball of light rose up, floating inches above his hand. As Arthur approached, he got the same fluffy feeling from the ball of light as Arthur had just felt moments before.

“The light is supposed to guide them home, or so Alator claims. If they came in contact with energy ball of magic, they’re pretty much forced to heed the call to go home, whether they want to or not.” Gwaine explained. He grabbed onto the energy ball and squeezed it so tightly until it crushed under the pressure of it and dissolved into tiny sprinkles of light before they disappeared completely from sight.

Arthur scoffed. “Magic? Are you trying to make fun of me? Magic doesn’t exist.”

He spread his arms wide out and then went on to say, “And yet, here we are. You, being haunted by a cute mischievous spirit and me, about to help you get rid of your problem.” Gwaine secured his gun back in place, around his ankle.

“Chubby Pendragon!” Merlin wheezed in a disturbingly high-pitched voice. It was like Merlin was just waiting for his moment of glory to butt in and throw _that_ in.

Arthur rolled his eyes, chiding Merlin, “Will you quit it, Merlin? I’m fighting fit as you can obviously see.”

“Merlin?” Gwaine repeated, dumbstruck. He was giving Arthur a weird look. Arthur attributed this to the fact that he just revealed that got chummy enough with his sorta roommate slash ghost to get his name out if it. It was definitely weird. Maybe he even thought Arthur cruel for still wanting Merlin to leave. But it couldn’t be helped, if it meant that Merlin could finally find his rest, he was willing to take the chance with Gwaine.

“Yeah, that’s his name. Want me to introduce you to each other?” Arthur said, jokingly.

Gwaine looked anything but humoured, instead, he grabbed Arthur’s shoulders, shaking him frantically. He looked agitated. “Is it true?! Is his name really Merlin?”

Arthur nodded.

“You’ve seen him before, haven’t you? Tell me; is it a little dark-haired boy?” Gwaine pulled out the picture from before and held it in front of Arthur. He came face to face with a young boy, giving him a dimpling smile with two of his front teeth missing. Still, it was an endearing sight as his eyes crinkled with laughter. “Is it him? Is that your Merlin?”

“No,” Arthur brushed him off. Now that he thought about it; didn’t Gwaine tell him that picture was about his little brother?

“Merlin isn’t a little boy, more like a young man who is, give or take, probably a few years younger than us.” Arthur looked closer at the picture. There definitely was some familiarity.

“Are you absolutely sure?”

Arthur’s lips thinned. “I would know what I saw. You know what? Just see for yourself.”

 

 

“Is that you, Merlin?!” Gwaine yelled out into the room, turning left and right watching out for any unusual movements. “Come on, show yourself! I know you’re here.”

Arthur sighed and joined Gwaine’s endeavour. “Don’t be a pain in the arse and just do him the favour. Otherwise I fear my ears will fall off.”

“Selfish as ever, I take it.”

Gwaine jumped slightly when Merlin appeared out of nowhere in front of them.

“Merlin?” Gwaine took a hesitant step towards him and Merlin himself only tilted his head to the side. “You called for me?”

The light in Gwaine’s eyes extinguished as he took in Merlin’s entire form. “No, you’re not. Thanks for going through the trouble to come out for me.”

“You’re welcome?” Merlin scratched his chin in confusion. He threw Arthur a wondering look.

Gwaine laughed hollowly, “You must think me strange, right?” He smiled dejectedly but froze the moment he lifted his head back and looked at Merlin.

“Wait! Show me your wrist!” Gwaine charged forward and made to grab for Merlin’s wrist but as expected, he toppled over as he lunged for forward, surging right through Merlin’s arm.

“What the hell are you even doing, Gwaine?”

Gwaine pointed at Merlin’s wrist. “His wristband, I made it. He’s my Merlin.”

“But didn’t you say that you had a kid brother?” Arthur’s brows furrowed in confusion.

“I know what I’ve said but look,” he urged Merlin to raise his arm in front of him which Merlin, still stupefied, did, “I’ve engraved this.”

Where Gwaine’s finger had just pointed, were a badly and shakily drawn sword and a line with a star on top which probably was supposed to represent a wand.

“I have no idea why this Merlin is an adult but there’s no mistake that he’s my little brother.”

 

 

Arthur cleared his throat. This was getting more and more awkward with every passing second. He plucked some “Um, so you and Merlin are brothers?”

Gwaine remained silent. He was probably still shaken by the new revelation he had to stomach. Even though there was something off with the time lapse and Merlin’s memories, there was no doubt that this Merlin was the one Gwaine was looking for, albeit a few years older and not so tiny anymore.

“Probably not anymore. I’ve failed him as a brother.” Gwaine sighed and fell backwards on the grass. He threw an arm over his eyes and turned his back towards Arthur.

He petted Gwaine’s arm comfortingly. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Gwaine.”

Gwaine got back up and rubbed his eyes tiredly. “I’m not ‘being hard on myself’, I’m stating the obvious.”  Before Arthur could even throw in a remark to defend Gwaine from himself, he continued on, “Haven’t you seen the picture? Merlin’s all grown up now. He clearly never drowned and then found himself all alone. Merlin was a child, for god’s sake! And he still died in the end, Arthur. How could I still call myself his brother?”

“You couldn’t have known he survived,” Arthur said, plucking a daisy out.

“I should have tried harder; should have looked harder. Maybe Merlin would still be alive and happy now.”

“Don’t do that to yourself.”

Arthur fiddled with another daisy he plucked out; trying to weave it with the first daisy but no such luck. As soon as he knotted the two flowers together, the two daisies ripped at the knot. He groaned in frustration. “Dammit. How the hell did Merlin do it without even touching them?!”

It was unexpectedly this comment that made Gwaine erupt in laughter.  “Merlin has always been pretty nifty when it comes to creating things.” Arthur noticed with a smile that Gwaine was in his doting older brother mode. “Look, “Gwaine held his arm in front of himself, stroking the battered friendship bracelet on his wrist tenderly. “It’s what Merlin made me when we officially became brothers. He was so proud of it and he didn’t even notice that he got loose yarn all over himself.” The bracelet was made entirely of two different coloured green yards but then he spotted a baby blue coloured cross in the middle of the bracelet. Noticing Arthur’s frown, Gwaine went on to explain, still smiling indulgently, “It’s supposed to be a blue butterfly. But what can you expect from a five year old? It’s the first bracelet he made after all.”

And here Arthur threw away Merlin’s first flower crown away without a care in the world. Well, fuck. As soon as they returned to the manor, Arthur resolved, he was going to pick the flower crown up and find a way to conserve it.

“You know, Arthur, Merlin was also making a flower crown on that day.”

“That day?” Arthur asked, confused.

“The day he supposedly drowned.”

 

 

_“Gwaine, wait for me!” Merlin desperately tried to catch up to Gwaine but given his shorter legs, it was quite the ordeal for him._

_Gwaine huffed. “That’s what you get for always being distracted by butterflies.” Gaius always scolded him for doting on Merlin too much. It’s not like he could help it, right? He suddenly became a big brother and of course, he wanted to be the best brother the world has ever seen.  But really, it wasn’t like that old man was any less indulgent to his daydreamer of a little brother either._

_Merlin pouted. Now he wasn’t as keen to run after Gwaine anymore. “That’s so mean. I’m not distracted by butterflies! That was just one time!”_

_Gwaine sighed. He always caved in the end when it came to Merlin. “Fine, then. What is it this time around?”_

_Merlin bent low and pointed at the flowers, resting his chin happily on his kneecaps. “Look, Gwaine. Aren’t they pretty? Do you think Alice will like them?”_

_“Alice?”_

_“Gaius’ girlfriend.” Merlin snickered. His cheeks pinked slightly at the prospect of having a woman in their lives. Merlin was still such a baby.  Gwaine wasn’t sure if it was out of embarrassment since Merlin was pretty much innocent when it came to any female human beings in general or being excited about finally getting a mother figure. That, or Merlin was getting worked up over the idea of having an endless supply of cookies if Alice were to live with them._

_“She’s not his girlfriend yet.” He ruffled Merlin’s head affectionately who preened under the attention Gwaine bestowed upon him._

_Merlin frowned, obviously not pleased. Uh-oh._

_“But I like her.”_

_Gwaine snorted. “You only like her because she doesn’t give you a bowl-cut.”_

_Merlin looked affronted and blurted, “That’s not true! She bakes the second best cookies after Auntie Annis.” Ha! He knew it. Merlin was mostly in for the cookies. He blushed when he saw Gwaine’s knowing smirk. “Um, I mean, you know, Gaius literally puts a bowl over my head and cuts any protruding hair strands away. Of course, I’d like her.”_

_He self-consciously slid his fingers through his hair._

_“Come on, Merlin. We’re going to give those two love birds a little push in the right direction. That old man is no good when it comes to romantic gestures.” He joined Merlin on the meadow and picked the nicest flowers he spotted._

_After a considerably time and a bouquet of flowers in his hands later, Gwaine looked up with no Merlin in sight._

_“Merlin? Merlin, where are you?!”Anxious, he threw the bouquet carelessly to the ground and ran up the hill._

_Gwaine looked around him. Left, right but still, Merlin was nowhere to see._

_“Answer me! Mer—“ Gwaine was so caught up with looking for Merlin that he didn’t even notice that he ran against someone. From the impact, Gwaine fell back on his butt but thankfully, his fall was cushioned by the meadow itself._

_Still rubbing his aching butt, Gwaine was surprised to look into the face of an elderly, grizzled man. His face was mostly framed by an outrageously long white beard and his extremely long limp white hair that protruded from out of his blue beanie. They were even longer than Gaius, Gwaine noticed with surprise. He didn’t think that possible. For such a warm spring day, he was still wearing a thick blue winter coat. How strange._

_“Are you alright, young man?” The elderly man grabbed his arm and pulled him up. Surprised, Gwaine went along with it even as the old man beat the dirt shallowly out of Gwaine’s clothes._

_“There you go. All clean now.”_

_“Ah, um, thanks.”_

_He nodded in acknowledgement before he went along his way down the hill. Gwaine looked wonderingly after him; he hadn’t even noticed that the old man was hunching. Not with the strength he just displayed as he pulled Gwaine up._

_Gwaine startled; he was supposed to find Merlin. He shouldn’t dawdle around and concern himself with strangers. With more caution for his surroundings, Gwaine ran down the hill in his search for his little brother._

_He sighed in relief and when he saw Merlin sitting on the other side of the little hill, next to the lake. As he got closer, Gwaine saw two dozens of picked daisies lying next to Merlin who happily hummed to himself._

_“Don’t scare me like that again.” Gwaine wiped the sweat on his forehead with the hem of his shirt off. It wasn’t sweat he got for this little exertion but more for the stress and worry Merlin put him through._

_“Hm?”_

_Figures, he was still oblivious to the lifetime scare he just gave Gwaine. Merlin was such an airhead. “Ah, right. Have you seen an elderly man in a blue coat passing by?”_

_But Merlin was so absorbed in his task, he barely noticed the question._

_“Did you say something, Gwaine?”_

_“Forget it. It wasn’t even important.” He plopped down next to Merlin, careful as to not crush the flowers Merlin had carefully lain out next to him._

_“Anyway, what are you doing?” Even from afar, Gwaine could make out that he was fiddling with something in his hands. Now, up close, Gwaine could see that he was braiding flowers into each other, making a long band of daisies._

_“I’m making a daisy flower crown!” Merlin exclaimed._

_“Is it for Alice?”_

_“Obviously.” Merlin nodded to himself. He knotted both ends of the flower band together, at last, turning the mass of daisies into a real flower crown._

_“Ta-dah! I’m finished. Isn’t it pretty?”_

_Besides the squashed petals from where the flowers were tied together just now, probably from when Merlin started, it looked pretty good for a first attempt. Knowing Merlin, he didn’t pick two dozens of daisies just for one flower crown, He probably thought of doing it over and over again until he was satisfied with one._

_Gwaine jumped up and snatched the flower crown from Merlin._

_“We’re going to save the princess in the tower from the dragon now. And I hereby, crown you my fair maiden.” He laid the flower crown over Merlin’s tiny head and to no surprise, the crown was too big for his head and promptly, slid over his head and half over his face._

_“Hey! That’s not fair. Why do I always have to be the princess? You be the princess, Gwaine.”_

_“But the daisies go so well with your white and yellow checkered shoes, **Princess Merlin** ,” he sing-sang, batting his lashes exaggeratedly at Merlin._

_“Alright, alright. You can be the dragon then who prefers sword fighting to spiting fire.” Gwaine picked up a twig and threw it over to Merlin before he found another one to call his sword._

_“Silly Gwaine. You forgot that dragons are the best creatures ever. We’re strong and unbeatable! Ha!” Gwaine smiled. Merlin was a sight to be beheld. Despite trying his very best to appear menacing and baring his teeth at him, he looked utterly endearing and adorable with the oversized flower crown on his head and the little twig he mindlessly thrashed around himself with. In the heat of the moment, he thrashed so wildly around himself; Merlin even hit himself on the forehead.  What an airhead._

_“Ow.” Merlin dropped the twig to the ground and rubbed his forehead gingerly. Tears were already forming in the eyes, on the verge on becoming big fat tear drops._

_“You’re so stupid, Merlin.” Gwaine threw his twig away as well and jogged to Merlin, slapping Merlin’s hand away. “Let me have a look at this.” The place where Merlin hit himself was already pinking; it would probably become a bump later on._

_“Now, now. Don’t be a crybaby about this.” Gwaine blew against the bruise which led to Merlin instinctively closing his eyes and the unshed tears spilling down his face. He petted Merlin’s head, a habit Gwaine picked up over the years to comfort Merlin._

_“I’m not crying!”_

_“Liar, liar, pants on fire!” Gwaine sang and poked at Merlin’s cheek. He triumphantly showed Merlin the evidence by holding up his wet index finger from the tears running down on his cheeks._

_“ **I’m not a liar. Don’t call me a liar!”**_

_Merlin’s bottom lip quivered. Now, Gwaine was scared shitless. A Merlin blinking tears away was one thing but a Merlin who was crying for real was something Gwaine could never handle, especially not when he was the one who bullied Merlin into crying. He was done for._

_Gwaine held his hand defensively in front of himself, trying to pacify Merlin. “Alright, I get it. I’m sorry, I was being stupid. Don’t cry—“ Merlin glared at him and Gwaine caught his mistake, quickly correcting himself, “I mean, don’t be mad at your silly big brother. Please, Merlin?”_

_“Don’t wanna.”_

_Gwaine sighed. Once offended, Merlin was hard to calm down. But alas, he still got something up his sleeve that might just turn the cards in his favour. “And what about when I buy you a bagful of Annis’ famed cookies? You know, the one from Caerlon you love so much?”_

_“For real?!” Merlin beamed at him. All anger vaporizing instantly at such a tempting offer._

_He puffed out his chest. “But of course. When did I ever disappoint you, Merlin?”_

_“I want to eat ‘em now”_

_“N—now?” Gwaine scratched his head. He had underestimated Merlin’s sweet tooth._

_“So the cookies were a lie after all?!” Merlin puffed out his cheeks, staring accusingly at him._

_“I get it. I’m going to buy them now.” He turned to run into the town but had the thought to stop for a moment and shouted over his shoulder, “I’ll be back in about fifteen minutes. Don’t run off on me!”_

_“Just bring back the cookies!”_

_~_

_Gwaine opened the bag full of cookies, inhaling the sweet and aromatic smell of the freshly baked goods. He was already drooling. It paid off to splurge all his pocket money for a dozen of these giant cookies. Merlin will love him to bits again and everything was going to be alright as well. Trust Annis’ cookies to save Gwaine’s arse. He was just glad that Merlin was gluttonous enough that he was easily bribed at the sight of pastry._

_But when he reached the meadow, Merlin was nowhere at sight yet again. Merlin was a good boy; he’d never disobey him and run off when Gwaine had specifically ordered him to stay put. But maybe he was already home? It was late afternoon after all._

_Gwaine turned to make his way home when something caught his eye. Merlin’s daisy flower crown lay discarded on the bank, half of the crown already under the muddy water. He sprinted to the back and picked the flower crown up. Gwaine looked wildly around but still, Merlin was nowhere in sight._

_And then, at the sight of the next thing Gwaine saw, his blood ran cold._

_One of Merlin’s shoes floated towards over the water. The white and yellow checkered one that went so well with the daisies._

_Gwaine dropped the bag with the cookies._

 

 

Arthur gulped. “And then? What happened then?”

Gwaine twirled a daisy between his thumb and index finger. “What do you think? Obviously, I searched high and low for Merlin all over the lake. I didn’t even realize I searched for three hours until Gaius pulled me out of the water and called the people in town for help.”

He ripped petal for petal off before flicking the stem away. “We searched until morning but still, Merlin was nowhere to be found. And then, we expanded our search party within the town and in the forest, hoping that Merlin had got safely out of the water and had forgot his way home in his shock. But as you already know, this wasn’t the case.”

Arthur glanced at his manor. Somewhere in there, Merlin must be watching them. He probably was as confused the pair of them out there, trying to find answers.

“And afterwards, a few years later, an acquaintance of Gaius paid us a visit. He picked my interest because he was dressed rather weirdly. A bit like a monk, I thought. I couldn’t help myself and eavesdropped on them.”

_“Alator! I doubt it’s a good idea to bring him with you.” Gaius said, outraged. He stood up, slamming the table with both his hands. Gwaine had never seen him so agitated before. Just what had this Alator character told him?_

_“Gaius, please calm down. It has been long been foretold that that’s the path predestined for him whether you like it or not.” Alator had a calming voice. He never had raised his voice like Gaius had, always speaking in his gentle and even tone._

_“So what?! It doesn’t mean it’s the best choice out for him! Gwaine is still traumatized by what happened to his little brother.”_

_Wait, were they talking about him? Just what the hell were they doing in there?_

_“It’s precisely because of this reason; I want to take the boy with me. Didn’t you say he never got over Merlin’s apparent death? Fine, I’ll provide him a chance, however slim, to meet him.”_

“And then you slammed the door open, revealed that you were eavesdropping on them and stubbornly forced your way to go with Alator?”

“Pretty much.” Gwaine laughed. He looked yearningly back at the manor. “He more or less raised me afterwards and after today, I don’t think Gaius can say he didn’t keep his promise about Merlin.”

Arthur rested his hand on Gwaine’s shoulder, trying to provide him with comfort.

“What do you plan on doing now, Gwaine? You’ve obviously found your little brother.”

Gwaine shrugged his shoulders. “I planned to needle him questions like _Where have you been? What happened to you? Were you suffering all by yourself?_ But given that he has no recollection of his human life besides his name, I can’t even do that.”

“He might remember you, Gwaine. Maybe he just needs time.”

“For fuck’s sake, Arthur!” Gwaine abruptly stood up and Arthur followed suit.

“He’s a fucking ghost. He’s been dead for some time. Chances are, he’ll never remember me! Hell, he knows more about your mother’s childhood then about his own self!”

And that was the sticking point. Merlin proved himself to be older than Arthur but not as old as Ygraine and yet, there was no mistake that he was also Gwaine’s little brother.

It was almost like Merlin had been living two lives.

“You want to give up then? You want to give up on Merlin?” Arthur prodded.

Gwaine threw him a look full of contempt. “Are you out of your mind?! Never!”

Arthur raised his eyebrow at him.

He rubbed the bridge of his noses tiredly. “I’m going to contact Alator. Get him to come here and have a look for himself. See what he can do.”

Gwaine walked off, leaving Arthur all alone with thousands of unanswered questions.

He sighed.

 

 

Arthur’s eyes fluttered open as he stretched his limps like a cat in his bed.

“Why is it that the only time we truly talk with each other is in your bed?”

Arthur yawned around his words, “Don’t say misleading things, Merlin.”

Merlin lay on the other side of the bed with him, his hand ghosting over Arthur’s features.

“Like what you see?”

Merlin smiled. “Now who’s the suggestive one?”

“Yeah, alright. I’ll just lie here and be pretty.” Merlin was so close to his face now, Arthur could practically count his eyelashes.

“Arthur,” his voice was barely above a whisper, “what do you think of me?”

At first, he meant to play off his answer as a joke but when he saw the vulnerability and trust in his eyes, Arthur decided to drop any act.

“I thought you were a cheeky prankster who thinks he could do anything without being called out on it just because he’s a bit pretty.” Arthur turned his body to face Merlin’s. “That was my first impression of you.”  

“And now?”

“And now I think you’re a vulnerable brat who’s still infuriatingly cheeky but who can still be quite adorable.”

“Thanks.” Merlin smiled.

“So don’t worry too much over who you are or who you aren’t.” Arthur folded his arms behind his head, staring at the ceiling. “To me, you’re still Merlin, the boy who was hell bend to give me complex of my weight.”

Merlin rolled over, leaning above him now. “I almost forgot about it, chubby Pendragon.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “Here we go again.”

But at least, he thought to himself, he had dispelled Merlin’s worries for now.

 

 

“ _Emrys_ ,” Alator whispered in awe. Hi eyes went wide and he got down on his knees in front of ‘Emrys’, humbling himself before a shocked Merlin. Alator was an ageless looking man with a bald man who was dressed in what looked like a velvety cape. As soon as he got Gwaine’s message, Alator had rushed here.

Arthur didn’t know what to think of him.

“I’ve been waiting for you for almost two decades, master.”

Arthur quirked his eyebrow and turned to Gwaine, mouthing Alator’s last word confusedly at him. _Master?_

Gwaine could only shrug his shoulders, probably as perplexed as Arthur.

Merlin shook his head. He must be surprised at finding another person who was as readily accepting of his bizarre existence as Arthur and Gwaine. “You’ve got the wrong person. I’m not ‘Emrys’, my name is Merlin.” 

“But of course. Emrys is the name given to you by the druids. You’ve long shed your mortal name off but I’m not surprised that you’ve adopted your name yet again after becoming a mortal being.” Alator bowed low before him.

“I did?” Merlin cocked his head to the side.

Alator smiled ruefully at him. “I never imagined how lonely you were that you resorted to such a desperate attempt.”

“What do you mean?”

 

“ _Master, master! Please stop!” Alator grabbed at the red robes of a frizzled old man who, completely unfazed by Alator’s interruption, simply brushed him off and drew interlocking triskeles in a circle around himself, drawing out a dagger to cut his wrist, letting his blood flow freely over each triskelion, muttering words in a foreign language all the while._

_“He won’t come back this way. Arthur needs to come back on his own accords. And you know it.” Alator tried to talk some sense back into him. Emrys must have been out of his mind for thinking that he could forcefully resurrect Arthur Pendragon from his slumber by putting part of his own soul into Arthur’s body._

_But it was already too late; Emrys had already finished the ritual._

_“Emrys!”_

_His master’s body toppled over and Alator let out a gasp of surprise as Emrys wispy and white hair slowly turned back to its original dark colour from centuries ago and his skin tightened, a rosy hue returning back to it._

_Something must have gone fundamentally wrong when Alator could feel the magic tangible in the air as it drew out Emrys’ soul from his body until he was only left with a small crying baby on the ground who was bathed in a gold light._

_Emrys was gone and Merlin remained._

_Alator looked resignedly over the lake._

_And Arthur Pendragon continued his slumber._

_“They’re mad at him,” a gentle voice called out from the lake._

_Alator walked towards the edge of the lake until he had a clear view of the water._

_“Freya.”_

_Under the ripples of the water, the delicate face of a dark-haired girl greeted him._

_“The Sidhe are punishing him for trying to defy Arthur’s destiny.” She sounded saddened._

_“What happened to Emrys?”_

_A cry interrupted their conversation and Arthur looked down on the infant. The gold sheen around him had faded to a soft glow._

_Drops the size of Alator’s fist rose from the surface of the water, dancing over the baby’s head like leaves in the wind. The baby squealed in delight._

_“What you see here now, is what’s left of Merlin’s soul.” Freya’s face resurfaced in one of the bigger drops over the baby’s head. “Merlin will come back to claim his body.” He immediately knew she meant the infant when she said that._

_“Without his body, Merlin’s magic is halved but his intellect and power shouldn’t be underestimated.” Freya sighed unhappily. “He’ll stop at nothing now. Be it to resurrect Arthur or getting his power and body back. Merlin’s gotten impatient now.”_

_“You mean, there is a way to get his body back?”_

_Freya nodded. “But before he can claim his body back, Merlin needs to mends his broken soul but for that,” she closed her eyes, “he needs to draw this child’s soul out of the body. Once soulless, his body will reject them if their souls haven’t become one again.”_

_Alator’s brows furrowed in confusion. “Won’t this mean certain death for the child?”_

_“It’s only temporarily. Until his body has matured enough again to bear all the magic he has. His soul will also mature along with his body to keep up with it.”_

_Alator cradled the infant in his arms. There was no way he could raise the child, he had to look for Emrys._

_“I’m going to contact Gaius.”_

 

“So you’re basically saying that Merlin over here,” Arthur pointed at Merlin over his shoulder, “is just leftover from a suicidal necromancer?”

“Oi!” Merlin let out an undignified sound.

“I wouldn’t put it that way but yes, that about sums it up. It looks like Emrys has come back to claim his body.” Alator turned towards Merlin. “He put your shared body to sleep in the lake to nurture for the last eighteen years, but don’t worry there’s a way to restore you to your own body. By which I mean, a completely new body.”

“There’s actually a way?” Merlin asked in a quiet voice.

Alator nodded. “We only need to wait for Samhain.”

“Samhain?” Arthur asked, “What the hell is that supposed to be?”

Gwaine clapped him on the shoulder.

“It’s when the ghosts come out to play.”

 

“Arthur, stop that!” Merlin watched with wide eyes as Arthur threw the new set of clothes along with a pair of shoes he had bought the day before down into a bucket, lighting a match and flicking it down the bucket as well.

The flame turned the beautiful plum cardigan black, burning a hole through the cloth. Merlin threw the windows open, hoping that a gush would put the fire out but what he didn’t t ake into account was that the wind fueled the flames, setting the clothes ablaze.

“Damn, Arthur put the fire out!”

Arthur ignored him; instead he sat on the floor next to the bucket, crossing his legs. “Do you remember what Gwaine said about your leather wristband?”

Merlin touched his wrist absent-mindedly, fingers brushing over the engraved chicken scratch of Gwaine’s wand and sword based on their Arthurian inspired names on the wristband. “What does it matter now? What does it has to do with anything?”

“In Asia some people burn Joss paper for their ancestors as an offering because the hoped that this would help them have an easier and comfortable time in the afterlife.” He rummaged in his back pocket, retrieving a tiny piece of paper from it before he threw it in the bucket along with the clothes. The paper turned back, shriveling into itself and becoming ashes.

“Joss paper?” Merlin relaxed slightly when he realized that Arthur hadn’t lost his mind and about to set his house on fire.

“Spirit money.” Arthur’s gaze on him made him flustered, made him want to turn invisible, slipping away from his gaze. But Merlin didn’t. Instead, he ran his hand through his hair, wanted to brush the long strands of his hair over his eyes, working as a barrier to prevent their eyes from meeting. Of course it didn’t work. His hair stayed perfectly in place as they were, still and lifeless as Merlin were.

Eyes lit up, Arthur surged forward, startling Merlin. “Your hand!”

Merlin dropped the hand from his head and held it out in front of him, wondering what got Arthur so excited. At first he didn’t notice anything off but when he finally did, he choked back a laugh. 

There, on his ring finger of right hand was a ring made out of a stripe of paper. The top of the band was jagged, making the entire paper ring look like cheap version of a miniature crown. So that was what Arthur had thrown in the bucket.

“Pretty cool, eh?” Arthur sounded pleased with himself, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Now the trio is complete.”

Merlin’s eyes grew fond.  Besides a knight and a wizard, he had acquired himself a king as well now. Merlin’s chest leapt in his chest. He wondered if he were still alive, would he feel the blood rushing to his head? Would his cheeks get a pink tinge in his embarrassment? Would his heart so crazy that he’d feel the need to hold his hands protectively in front of his chest, in case his heart tried to flee to Arthur?

“Are you asking for my hand in marriage? Am I your blushing bride?” He cupped his face with his hands, pretending to be embarrassed. Even though Merlin _was_ embarrassed, he feared that if he didn’t play it down Merlin feared that he’d turn all sappy and let all the flowers in the house float into this room, lit all the candles and be mocked by Arthur for being such a girl. Well, Arthur _did_ give him a ring, right?

“I’m not going down on my knees.” Arthur’s face softened. “And wouldn’t it be considered necrophilia if I want to make you my little wife?”

“You’ve missed the date of expiry of my body by close to two decades, _my dear_. I’m afraid there’s no longer a body for your nefarious purposes anymore. And I doubt you could call it necrophilia seeing as how you’re a little bit in love with my lost soul.”

Arthur’s face turned a lovely shade of red at Merlin’s words. “Well, I should be praised then. Aren’t most women complaining that all men only go for their looks and bodies? And here I am going the extra length to see where to stick my coin into the object of my affection that doesn’t even have a body for me to defile.”

Merlin played along and let out a gasp. “Are you calling me a girl?”

“Please, if you could, you’d have sheds tears like the big girl you are when you saw the ring, Merlin. I’m just glad that I don’t have to wipe the snot from your face.”

“You’d gladly do it, wouldn’t you?” Merlin said smugly.

Merlin then turned his head to the dimmed fire in the bucket; the clothes must have turned into a big heap of ashes by now.  What a waste. When Arthur had returned from town yesterday, he looked so giddy when he paraded the clothes in front of Merlin, asking for his opinions, wanting to know if Merlin liked them. While he knew that Arthur was rather fashionable and always dressed smart and was practically eye candy for Merlin to lust after day in and day out, Merlin didn’t knew that Arthur cared _that_ much for fashion that he saw the need to show Merlin every single piece of clothes he bought. He didn’t even know that this town had a clothing store that would appeal to Arthur’s interests. And after Merlin examined the clothes closely, he noticed that the clothes were actually a few sizes too small for Arthur. Either Arthur had bent the reality a bit too much when it came to his self-perception or he had set himself a rather far-fetched dieting goal. He already mourned all the muscles that would melt away with all the dieting.

“Putting your cute marriage proposal by side, what did you burn the clothes for? Wasn’t the shirt made out of silk? You’ve basically burnt a big wad of money for nothing.” Merlin reprimanded him.

“Gwaine has said that he wanted to give the Asian custom a try, see if this custom was just some superstitious rubbish. But seeing as how you got his wristband in the end, I thought it might work on clothes as well.” Arthur nodded satisfied to himself. “Seems like it works for them as well.” Arthur put his hands to his hips, gave Merlin an once-over, whistling when he was finished. “And here Morgana thinks I have no sense for fashion. Colour suits you, Merlin.”

“What?” Merlin looked perplexedly down on himself, noticing the very same soft black cotton trousers Arthur had just burnt minutes before. He pulled at the plum cardigan that was loosely hanging from his frame, hiding the silk white button-up Merlin had just mourned. “The clothes were for me? You bought them for me?” Merlin was in awe.

Arthur looked at him like he was daft. Maybe he was. “Of course, for whom else should I have bought them? They were obviously meant for you, idiot.” Even though had just insulted him, there was no heat in his words. To Merlin’s ears, it sounded more like an endearment.

“Well,” Merlin trailed off, not meeting his eyes.

“They’re obviously the wrong size. Someone with such a body, “Arthur drew his hand along the length of his body, “would never buy clothes meant for someone with a scrawny, malnourished built.” 

Maybe Arthur was the type who pulled on the girl’s pigtails if he liked her, just like in kindergarten. Very awkward and really, really on the wrong path at showing his affections properly but extremely cute when the girl noticed the little boy’s blush creeping up the boys neck, making even his ears blush along with the rest of him. And then her eyes would fall on the slightly wilted daisy in his shaky fingers, upset that the girl didn’t even give him time to give her the flower. But Merlin saw. Saw Arthur biting his bottom lip, a habit Merlin noticed early on when Arthur was secretly pleased. Saw Arthur fiddling with his thumb ring, caressing the silver metal while he looked distractedly at Merlin’s fingers, eyes trailing down on Merlin’s make-shift ring. Saw the yearning in Arthur’s eyes when he looked at Merlin. Merlin saw everything.

“So, “Arthur coughed, scratching the hair at his nape lightly, seemingly unsure at what do with his hands. ”Do you want to—I mean, would you like to go on a date.” Arthur eyes flitted from Merlin’s face to the ground. “With me?”

Yeah, Arthur was really adorable and Merlin was left defenseless at this sight of Arthur all sweet and eager to please him, vulnerable to Merlin’s every move and words.

“But where are my flowers?” Merlin teased him. And sure enough, Arthur’s eyes turned saucer wide and his mouth turned into an ‘o’ shape.

“I knew I’d forgotten something,” he looked out of the windows into the garden, eyeing the lilacs and petunias in the back of the yard. “I can pick some and burn them for you if you want. Just give me a minute or two.“

“Arthur, stop,” Merlin said when he saw Arthur ready to run out to pick Merlin flowers for real. “You don’t need to, I was just joking. I’m sorry.”

“Oh.” Arthur said.

“Yeah, ‘oh’,” Merlin repeated, already anticipating the awkward silence that would inevitably happen any minute now after the stunt Merlin had just pulled.

But then Arthur cleared his throat and he turned from the boy with the rejected wilted flower to an obnoxious boy who had thrusted the flower into the hands of his object of his affections, demanding his feelings to be acknowledged and possibly reciprocated.

“So, the date? Are you going or not?”

“I thought you’d never asked,” Merlin laughed, eyes crinkling. “You really didn’t need to go out of your way to ask me out, Arthur.”

Arthur scoffed. “I just knew you’d be all girly about it.” He cast his eyes downward, his hair hiding his eyes from Merlin’s view but Merlin still managed to saw the tiny soft smile on his lips, saw the tension leaving Arthur’s body, making him shoulders relax.

Merlin caressed the paper ring, looking at it fondly.

“But just so you know,” Arthur looked up. “I’m not putting out on the first date.”

Arthur grinned. “No worries, I wouldn’t even know where to stick it into.”

“How crude!”

 

 

Obviously their date was anything but normal. Seeing that Merlin was dead, it was the first thing on the list that marked their date as _special_ , to put it nicely.

Arthur held his mobile to his ear with Merlin floating besides him. “What do you want to do first, Merlin? Eat? Walking around?”

“Wow, eating? You’re so attentive, Arthur. Seeing as I’m dead and can’t eat anything, it would be such a great joy to watch you stuff your face.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “Fine, then. Propose something we can both enjoy. I’ll do whatever you want.”

Merlin thought hard for a minute, pondering about the choices he had before him before finally deciding, “We’re going to watch a movie!”

“A movie, Merlin? You’re so original.”

“Shut up, you prat. You’ve said you’re going along with anything I say.”

 

„Well, that was certainly a nice movie.“

“I can’t believe you made popcorn go up flying, Merlin.” When the girl walking next to him n the pavement threw him a weird look at this comment, Arthur increased his pace. He gripped his mobile tighter. Arthur was already pretending to make a call even though Merlin was right next to him. It’s not like they could see Merlin and it would probably look odd if Arthur talked to himself.

Merlin pouted. “I was just a bit excited.”

“A bit?” Arthur threw an arm in the air, exasperated. “You were practically somersaulting when the bad guy was finally killed. Just be glad that it was a fantasy movie and the audience thought the popcorn was a gimmick the cinema pulled.”

“You just can’t appreciate the fine arts.” Merlin crossed his arms in front of his chest, trailing slowly behind Arthur now.

“Whatever.” Arthur sighed. The movie had just ended and it was still late afternoon.

“You want to take a stroll in the park?” When he didn’t get a reply from Merlin, he turned around. “Merlin?”

Merlin was standing before a shop window whose cracked glass was covered with sellotape, with his mouth slightly open in awe. Arthur pocketed his mobile and walked back to him, wondering what got Merlin speechless.

Before them, a miniature version of a medieval castle was displayed whose gate which was guarded with knights, was open to reveal a tiny vegetable booth next to the castle’s door with bustling little figurines dressed as villagers passing by, a horse stable and a slightly hidden door with iron bars to the far left of the castle, which probably led down to a dungeon.

But that wasn’t what gripped Merlin’s attention. As he followed Merlin’s gaze, Arthur’s eyes landed was the railway network which was built like an infinity sign with a little train following the intertwining loops.

“When Gwaine and I were little, we were always passing by this shop when we were in town.” Merlin’s eyes practically shone. ”I can’t believe they still have the locomotive.”

Arthur looked up the shop’s sign. “ _Monmouth’s toy shop_ , eh?”

“Wanna go in?” Arthur nodded towards the door.

“Can I?” Merlin asked sheepishly, giving him a shy smile.

 

The bell above the door rang when they entered.

If Arthur had imagined an elderly friendly shop assistant greeting them, he was certainly disappointed.

Instead, a giant of a man with bulging muscles surprised them when they entered, his head poking out from behind three big cardboard boxes.

 “Uncle Geoffrey!” The giant shouted towards the door behind the counter, “We have a customer!” He only got a grunt as an answer.

He dropped the boxes on the counter. Now, Arthur could see him wearing a tight polo shirt which looked like it was two sizes too small for him under a ridiculously tiny black apron.

“He’s cleaning his prized knight figurines. Uncle Geoffrey would probably be occupied for the next few hours. I’ll guess you have to take up with me.” He smiled apologetically at Arthur which Arthur returned reflexively.

“No flirting on our date,” Merlin reprimanded him so quietly, so that only Arthur could hear him.

“I’m not!” Arthur hissed, embarrassed. And that shop assistant, Percy, as Arthur got from his name tag, wasn’t even anywhere close to his type. Too well-built and likely too shy for Arthur’s liking.

„I’m sorry?“ Percy asked confused. He pointed to the back door, unsurely, “Do you want me to get my uncle after all?”

Arthur shook his head and said, hastily, “No, no! You’re fine.” He scratched his head, glancing at Merlin to his left who eyed him warily with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Was he jealous?

“We—I mean, _I_ ,” Arthur corrected himself, “I, erm, wanted to take a look at your shop’s trains?” 

Percy’s eyes lit up. “Sure! Are you looking for toy trains or model trains?”

 _There was a difference?_ Arthur scratched his head. “What might be better?”

“Depends on what you’re looking for.” Percy pulled out a large box from the shelf behind him, pointing a finger at the pictured locomotive on a railroad. “If you have the money and the dedication, I’d go for the model train. They’re an exacting model of the vehicle but obviously built on a reduced scale.” At Arthur’s lost expression, Percy put the toy box back onto the shelf. “But I guess you might want to start with toy trains.”

Arthur shrugged helplessly. Merlin wasn’t a great help either, too mesmerized by all the toys surrounding them.

“Don’t worry, mate. I’ll show you the ropes,“ Percy beckoned him to follow him. As Arthur did, he almost tripped over a bunched up fleece mat.

“Sorry, about that,“ Percy kicked lightly at the mat, until it rolled fully out to cover the ground and nodded towards the shop window. “We’re still renovating.”

“Someone tried to break in?”

“More or less,” Percy answered, leading the way to the back of the toy shop, “our last part-timer didn’t take it too kindly when we laid him off.”

“Talking about me, Percival?”

Before them, a mousy man with long brown hair was leaning on a table in the center of two rows of shelves around them. At his sight, Merlin shied away from him even though he was only visible to Arthur right now. It was understandable though; there was something unsettling about the man with bloodshot eyes and skin stretched tightly over his face.

“Cedric.” Percy narrowed his eyes, his lips turning into a thin, grim line, immediately changing from his previous sweet demeanor. “I thought I told to I wanted you gone before I come back from the storage room.”

Cedric shrugged. “I wasn’t finished talking with you.”

“But I am quite through with you and you should be happy that Uncle Geoffrey isn’t pressing charges against you for vandalism.”

“Oh, come on. Nothing a bit of money can’t fix.” Cedric patted Percy’s shoulder good-naturedly. “Besides, what is a wronged man to do when you refuse to talk to him?”

Close up, Arthur saw how sunken in his cheeks which only emphasized the dark circles under his eyes looked. Arthur wrinkled his nose. There was a weirdly sweet smell coming from Cedric.

“Wronged?!” Percy balled his hands into fists. “I’ve caught you smoking pot in our backroom. And don’t even try to deny it.”  

Cedric, on the other hand, didn’t even look like he was going to deny it. “I’d have offered you one but you were in such a rush to throw me out.”

“Have you no shame?” Even Merlin flinched at Percy’s outrage. “Most of our customers are little children. What if they’ve seen you?!”

“Offer them a toy for consolation?” Cedric joked. He turned to Arthur, grinning at him like he was waiting for Arthur to laugh at his joke.

Arthur didn’t.

“I’m going to get the rest of your belongings from your locker and after that; you’re to never come back here.” To Arthur, a person was always the scariest when they’re calm when you expected them to scream their head purple in their anger. Percy’s rigid posture and collected voice was so intimidating, that even Arthur who wasn’t on the receiving end of his icy stare, had to gulp.

“My god, I would be bored to death if I always live by the rules like him.” Cedric commented disparagingly as they watched Percy’s retreating form. “Don’t you agree with me?” He addressed Arthur.

“No,” Arthur answered dryly.

“What a jerk.” With a flick of his finger, Merlin made the hood on Cedric’s jacket fly up and pull over Cedric’s face, making him shout in surprise and stumble clumsily forwards until he fell right before Arthur’s feet. Merlin sneered.

“ _Merlin!”_ Arthur hissed, warningly.

Merlin sneered. “What? Idiots like him deserve to some punishment.”

“What the hell was that?” Cedric pulled his hood off from his face, breathing raggedly as he checked behind himself for a perpetrator.

Arthur coughed. “The air conditioning is rather strong here, don’t you think so as well?” For good measure, he rubbed the palms of his hands against his shoulders to emphasize it.

Cedric seemed to buy it easily.

“Good for me his brain cells have already been killed off by all the week he has smoked, eh?” Merlin said pettily.

Cedric looked confusedly up at Arthur from the ground. “Have you said something?”

“No, nothing.” Even though he didn’t have the best impression of Cedric, Arthur still offered Cedric his hand which he took gratefully.

His eyes zeroed in on Arthur’s wrist. “What a beautiful bracelet. ”

Arthur jerked his hand away as Cedric’s hand latched greedily on the amber stone in the bracelet.

“Say, where did you get this pretty bracelet?”  He made another attempt at the bracelet which Arthur dodged as well but he found himself literally cornered when his back hit a shelf filled with chess boards of various sizes and material.

“Come on, what do you have to lose?” Cedric gave Arthur an appreciative once-over, “And you definitely look like someone who’s well off. You certainly don’t mind giving me, a pitiful man who just lost his job over some petty thing, your little bracelet as a farewell gift, do you?”

Arthur definitely minded. He was seriously thinking of knocking that creep out but apparently, he wasn’t the only one with such thoughts.

“Scum,” Merlin spat out.

With wonder, Arthur was witnessing once again how Merlin’s usual blue eyes turned into a striking gold. Merlin’s face contorted in rage at the sight of Cedric.

“Don’t you dare touch him.” Cedric looked around himself in confusion. Expectedly since Merlin was still literally air to everyone but Arthur.

Merlin muttered something inaudibly under his breath as he stared intently at Cedric. Unlike with Aredian, Cedric didn’t vanish into nothing; instead, Arthur felt the shelf behind him rattle. To Arthur’s astonishment, a chessboard made entirely out of glass with tiny wood squares on each edge, pulled itself out of the shelf and surged heavily down on Cedric’s head, knocking him out instantly. The chess board fell with a thudding sound on the floor, without a single scratch on the glass.

Cedric’s fall looked comically like that of a swooning maiden backwards which also drew Percy’s attention.

“What happened here?” Percy dropped the satchel in his hand, taking in the scene before him of Arthur backed against a shelf and of Cedric lying unconscious on the ground. He knelt before Cedric, slapping him lightly a few times on the cheek to wake him.

“The chessboard fell on him.” Arthur replied truthfully.

“The chessboard?” Percy glanced at the chess board next to Cedric. “That’s impossible. It’s normally bolted down on the shelf board.”

Arthur bit his lip. “The bolts must have loosened then.” To his side, Merlin was staring wonderingly at his own hands.  

Percy looked skeptical but with no other choice, bought Arthur’s story. “Anyway, I’m sorry for inconvenience. I’ll take care of Cedric here.” He shouldered Cedric easily and addressing Arthur again, he said, “I totally forgot I wanted to show you the toy trains because of Cedric. To make up for the scene I made before, you have my full permission to play with it to your hearts content.”

It was only now, that Arthur noticed that the table Cedric had previously leaned on was fully equipped with a railway network, with two rails running parallel to each other and a red locomotive and a wagon sans vehicle on each of the rails.

Arthur pushed lightly at the joystick at the end of the table; in response, the locomotive drove slowly forwards.

“Race me.” Merlin made a dismissive motion with his hand and suddenly, the wagon shot forwards. Merlin cried out in delight.

“You’re playing dirty!” Challenged, pressed the joystick down until it had enough speed to keep up with Merlin’s vehicle of choice. When Arthur thought him leading and victorious, Merlin grinned slyly at him and with a flick of his wrist, the wagon shot forwards, finishing their tiny race with little effort.

“Maybe I should just stay here and seduce Percy.” Merlin grinned. “I’d never tire of an endless supply of toys.”

“Oi! No cheating on our date,” Arthur repeated Merlin’s words from before. To be honest, Arthur was actually a bit worried.

“Just on our date?” Merlin leered.

“Of course not! Don’t you _ever_ dare to cheat on me, Merlin!” Arthur answered, taken aback.

“You alright here?” Arthur hadn’t even heard Percy returning. Percy looked around. “Were you talking to someone? I heard you shouting just now.”

Arthur cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed. “I, erm, tend to do that when I get excited.”

“Right.” Percy stared at him warily.

“I think I’ll buy this,” Arthur pointed at the table, face still flushed.

“Yeah, alright. I’ll pack you one from the storage room.” Percy regarded him with suspicion but thought better of it and walked away.

“And you thought my popcorn stunt was embarrassing.” Merlin cackled. 

“Oh, shut it, Merlin.” Arthur hid his face in his palms.

 

 

“ _Arthur!_ ” Merlin called out in anguish.

There was nothing Merlin could do. He could only watch as Arthur suffered, writhing in pain. His fever was getting higher and higher and yet, Arthur was in no condition to get up and walk to the bathroom to get him a cool towel.

Merlin wanted to help him, wanted so badly but he couldn’t even put a hand on Arthur’s fever to cool his forehead. He couldn’t even cry if he wanted. Even though he felt like crying at the moment.

“Merlin, “Arthur whispered, hoarsely, “Stop thinking so loudly.”

“Arthur!”

Relief washed over Merlin. That was a good sign, wasn’t it? Arthur was still conscious and healthy enough to make fun of him.

“Are you alright?” He hovered close to Arthur’s bed, worry written all over his face.

“Obviously not.” Arthur rolled his eyes. He threw an arm over his head, letting it slide all over his forehead to wipe the drops of sweat from it.

Merlin perked up when he noticed the silver band on Arthur’s wrist.

“Arthur? When did you get this?”

“Hm?” Arthur followed the trails of Merlin’s eyes until they landed on the silver bangle o his right wrist. An amber stone stood out from the otherwise plain ornament, like any eye staring right back at them. “Oh, this. It’s from our little raid. It’s pretty isn’t it? I found it on my pillow yesterday and put it on. I didn’t even know I dropped it there.”

Merlin stared at the jewelry uneasily. Something felt off with it.

He dropped all thoughts on the matter though, when Arthur moaned loudly in pain before his eyes fluttered shut and he was on the verge of toppling down to the ground. 

_“Arthur!”_

Merlin jumped forwards and held his arms out for Arthur to fall into. Instead passed right through him. Merlin froze.

What use was he when he couldn’t do anything to help Arthur?

_“I’m sure Gwen would like anything you give her.”_

He perked up when he heard laughter outside.

When Merlin looked, Leon and Lance were chatting while Lance tore a bag full of soil open.

Arthur’s breath became erratic behind him.

He had to get them to notice him. His eyes landed on the hydrangeas in the vase next to Arthur.

Merlin thought back to the sensation he felt when he went up against Aredian as he threatened Arthur. Thought back to the feeling low in his gut as it spread through his entire body and turned the world entirely still for him.

His eyes burned and he raised the vase up, smashing it through the window and shattering the glass into pieces.

The laughter died down and turned to surprised gasps and shouts.

_“Isn’t that Arthur’s room upstairs?!”_

 

 

“The week before Samhain? Are you basically saying that it doesn’t actually matter when we perform the ritual? So what are we waiting for?” Arthur paced the floor, shadowed by Merlin floating close behind him.

Gwaine sighed. “My god, have you been listening? Merlin is a special case here. He was never dead to begin with but—”, he held his palm before Arthur, holding him back from interrupting him, “but Emrys is the original soul who has not only parted from half of his soul that we’ve better known as Merlin,  but also from his body. To put in in simple terms, they’re without a vessel. But now that he forcibly took hold of Merlin to mend their souls to make them whole again, they’re neither dead nor alive.”

Arthur halted in his steps and breathed slowly out. “You know, you basically told me nothing, right?” Gwaine sighed.

“Like I said, Emrys’ is the one who’s left with no body but Merlin’s in fact _not_ dead. We just need to focus on finding a spell to keep Emrys dormant long enough until we can loosen the grip of the veil of death on Merlin’s soul. Well, we can only provide him with a temporary body until Samhain. But if we wait until Samhain, I’m afraid Emrys will more than likely overpower Merlin and the chance to get Merlin back will be next to nothing.”

Arthur frowned and turned to Merlin. He expected him to look scared, determined or helpless but instead, he looked dazed. “I get a new body? An actual body made out of flesh and blood?” Merlin reached out tentatively, his hand meaning to touch Arthur’s shoulder but then he aborted the move. 

Alator nodded. “Yes, but you have to know it won’t be a perfect body.  There will possibly be some shortcomings but we only need long enough until

“Are you sure you want to this, Merlin?”

“I have to. It’s my only chance now.”

“Haven’t you ever wondered why Emrys has separated Merlin from his body instead of simply possessing him and take hold of his body? It’s because the only way to mend their souls back is to get rid of all worldly possessions first. If we get Merlin a new body until Samhain, we can buy us some time and have some chance.“

 

 

“Arthur, stop that!” Merlin watched with wide eyes as Arthur threw the new set of clothes along with a pair of shoes he had bought the day before down into a bucket, lighting a match and flicking it down the bucket as well.

The flame turned the beautiful plum cardigan black, burning a hole through the cloth. Merlin threw the windows open, hoping that a gush would put the fire out but what he didn’t t ake into account was that the wind fueled the flames, setting the clothes ablaze.

“Damn, Arthur put the fire out!”

Arthur ignored him; instead he sat on the floor next to the bucket, crossing his legs. “Do you remember what Gwaine said about your leather wristband?”

Merlin touched his wrist absent-mindedly, fingers brushing over the engraved chicken scratch of Gwaine’s wand and sword based on their Arthurian inspired names on the wristband. “What does it matter now? What does it has to do with anything?”

“In Asia some people burn Joss paper for their ancestors as an offering because the hoped that this would help them have an easier and comfortable time in the afterlife.” He rummaged in his back pocket, retrieving a tiny piece of paper from it before he threw it in the bucket along with the clothes. The paper turned back, shriveling into itself and becoming ashes.

“Joss paper?” Merlin relaxed slightly when he realized that Arthur hadn’t lost his mind and about to set his house on fire.

“Spirit money.” Arthur’s gaze on him made him flustered, made him want to turn invisible, slipping away from his gaze. But Merlin didn’t. Instead, he ran his hand through his hair, wanted to brush the long strands of his hair over his eyes, working as a barrier to prevent their eyes from meeting. Of course it didn’t work. His hair stayed perfectly in place as they were, still and lifeless as Merlin were.

Eyes lit up, Arthur surged forward, startling Merlin. “Your hand!”

Merlin dropped the hand from his head and held it out in front of him, wondering what got Arthur so excited. At first he didn’t notice anything off but when he finally did, he choked back a laugh. 

There, on his ring finger of right hand was a ring made out of a stripe of paper. The top of the band was jagged, making the entire paper ring look like cheap version of a miniature crown. So that was what Arthur had thrown in the bucket.

“Pretty cool, eh?” Arthur sounded pleased with himself, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Now the trio is complete.”

Merlin’s eyes grew fond.  Besides a knight and a wizard, he had acquired himself a king as well now. Merlin’s chest leapt in his chest. He wondered if he were still alive, would he feel the blood rushing to his head? Would his cheeks get a pink tinge in his embarrassment? Would his heart so crazy that he’d feel the need to hold his hands protectively in front of his chest, in case his heart tried to flee to Arthur?

“Are you asking for my hand in marriage? Am I your blushing bride?” He cupped his face with his hands, pretending to be embarrassed. Even though Merlin _was_ embarrassed, he feared that if he didn’t play it down Merlin feared that he’d turn all sappy and let all the flowers in the house float into this room, lit all the candles and be mocked by Arthur for being such a girl. Well, Arthur _did_ give him a ring, right?

“I’m not going down on my knees.” Arthur’s face softened. “And wouldn’t it be considered necrophilia if I want to make you my little wife?”

“You’ve missed the date of expiry of my body by close to two decades, _my dear_. I’m afraid there’s no longer a body for your nefarious purposes anymore. And I doubt you could call it necrophilia seeing as how you’re a little bit in love with my lost soul.”

Arthur’s face turned a lovely shade of red at Merlin’s words. “Well, I should be praised then. Aren’t most women complaining that all men only go for their looks and bodies? And here I am going the extra length to see where to stick my coin into the object of my affection that doesn’t even have a body for me to defile.”

Merlin played along and let out a gasp. “Are you calling me a girl?”

“Please, if you could, you’d have sheds tears like the big girl you are when you saw the ring, Merlin. I’m just glad that I don’t have to wipe the snot from your face.”

“You’d gladly do it, wouldn’t you?” Merlin said smugly.

Merlin then turned his head to the dimmed fire in the bucket; the clothes must have turned into a big heap of ashes by now.  What a waste. When Arthur had returned from town yesterday, he looked so giddy when he paraded the clothes in front of Merlin, asking for his opinions, wanting to know if Merlin liked them. While he knew that Arthur was rather fashionable and always dressed smart and was practically eye candy for Merlin to lust after day in and day out, Merlin didn’t knew that Arthur cared _that_ much for fashion that he saw the need to show Merlin every single piece of clothes he bought. He didn’t even know that this town had a clothing store that would appeal to Arthur’s interests. And after Merlin examined the clothes closely, he noticed that the clothes were actually a few sizes too small for Arthur. Either Arthur had bent the reality a bit too much when it came to his self-perception or he had set himself a rather far-fetched dieting goal. He already mourned all the muscles that would melt away with all the dieting.

“Putting your cute marriage proposal by side, what did you burn the clothes for? Wasn’t the shirt made out of silk? You’ve basically burnt a big wad of money for nothing.” Merlin reprimanded him.

“Gwaine has said that he wanted to give the Asian custom a try, see if this custom was just some superstitious rubbish. But seeing as how you got his wristband in the end, I thought it might work on clothes as well.” Arthur nodded satisfied to himself. “Seems like it works for them as well.” Arthur put his hands to his hips, gave Merlin an once-over, whistling when he was finished. “And here Morgana thinks I have no sense for fashion. Colour suits you, Merlin.”

“What?” Merlin looked perplexedly down on himself, noticing the very same soft black cotton trousers Arthur had just burnt minutes before. He pulled at the plum cardigan that was loosely hanging from his frame, hiding the silk white button-up Merlin had just mourned. “The clothes were for me? You bought them for me?” Merlin was in awe.

Arthur looked at him like he was daft. Maybe he was. “Of course, for whom else should I have bought them? They were obviously meant for you, idiot.” Even though had just insulted him, there was no heat in his words. To Merlin’s ears, it sounded more like an endearment.

“Well,” Merlin trailed off, not meeting his eyes.

“They’re obviously the wrong size. Someone with such a body, “Arthur drew his hand along the length of his body, “would never buy clothes meant for someone with a scrawny, malnourished built.” 

Maybe Arthur was the type who pulled on the girl’s pigtails if he liked her, just like in kindergarten. Very awkward and really, really on the wrong path at showing his affections properly but extremely cute when the girl noticed the little boy’s blush creeping up the boys neck, making even his ears blush along with the rest of him. And then her eyes would fall on the slightly wilted daisy in his shaky fingers, upset that the girl didn’t even give him time to give her the flower. But Merlin saw. Saw Arthur biting his bottom lip, a habit Merlin noticed early on when Arthur was secretly pleased. Saw Arthur fiddling with his thumb ring, caressing the silver metal while he looked distractedly at Merlin’s fingers, eyes trailing down on Merlin’s make-shift ring. Saw the yearning in Arthur’s eyes when he looked at Merlin. Merlin saw everything.

“So, “Arthur coughed, scratching the hair at his nape lightly, seemingly unsure at what do with his hands. ”Do you want to—I mean, would you like to go on a date.” Arthur eyes flitted from Merlin’s face to the ground. “With me?”

Yeah, Arthur was really adorable and Merlin was left defenseless at this sight of Arthur all sweet and eager to please him, vulnerable to Merlin’s every move and words.

“But where are my flowers?” Merlin teased him. And sure enough, Arthur’s eyes turned saucer wide and his mouth turned into an ‘o’ shape.

“I knew I’d forgotten something,” he looked out of the windows into the garden, eyeing the lilacs and petunias in the back of the yard. “I can pick some and burn them for you if you want. Just give me a minute or two.“

“Arthur, stop,” Merlin said when he saw Arthur ready to run out to pick Merlin flowers for real. “You don’t need to, I was just joking. I’m sorry.”

“Oh.” Arthur said.

“Yeah, ‘oh’,” Merlin repeated, already anticipating the awkward silence that would inevitably happen any minute now after the stunt Merlin had just pulled.

But then Arthur cleared his throat and he turned from the boy with the rejected wilted flower to an obnoxious boy who had thrusted the flower into the hands of his object of his affections, demanding his feelings to be acknowledged and possibly reciprocated.

“So, the date? Are you going or not?”

“I thought you’d never asked,” Merlin laughed, eyes crinkling. “You really didn’t need to go out of your way to ask me out, Arthur.”

Arthur scoffed. “I just knew you’d be all girly about it.” He cast his eyes downward, his hair hiding his eyes from Merlin’s view but Merlin still managed to saw the tiny soft smile on his lips, saw the tension leaving Arthur’s body, making him shoulders relax.

Merlin caressed the paper ring, looking at it fondly.

“But just so you know,” Arthur looked up. “I’m not putting out on the first date.”

Arthur grinned. “No worries, I wouldn’t even know where to stick it into.”

“How crude!”

 

 

Obviously their date was anything but normal. Seeing that Merlin was dead, it was the first thing on the list that marked their date as _special_ , to put it nicely.

Arthur held his mobile to his ear with Merlin floating besides him. “What do you want to do first, Merlin? Eat? Walking around?”

“Wow, eating? You’re so attentive, Arthur. Seeing as I’m dead and can’t eat anything, it would be such a great joy to watch you stuff your face.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “Fine, then. Propose something we can both enjoy. I’ll do whatever you want.”

Merlin thought hard for a minute, pondering about the choices he had before him before finally deciding, “We’re going to watch a movie!”

“A movie, Merlin? You’re so original.”

“Shut up, you prat. You’ve said you’re going along with anything I say.”

 

„Well, that was certainly a nice movie.“

“I can’t believe you made popcorn go up flying, Merlin.” When the girl walking next to him n the pavement threw him a weird look at this comment, Arthur increased his pace. He gripped his mobile tighter. Arthur was already pretending to make a call even though Merlin was right next to him. It’s not like they could see Merlin and it would probably look odd if Arthur talked to himself.

Merlin pouted. “I was just a bit excited.”

“A bit?” Arthur threw an arm in the air, exasperated. “You were practically somersaulting when the bad guy was finally killed. Just be glad that it was a fantasy movie and the audience thought the popcorn was a gimmick the cinema pulled.”

“You just can’t appreciate the fine arts.” Merlin crossed his arms in front of his chest, trailing slowly behind Arthur now.

“Whatever.” Arthur sighed. The movie had just ended and it was still late afternoon.

“You want to take a stroll in the park?” When he didn’t get a reply from Merlin, he turned around. “Merlin?”

Merlin was standing before a shop window whose cracked glass was covered with sellotape, with his mouth slightly open in awe. Arthur pocketed his mobile and walked back to him, wondering what got Merlin speechless.

Before them, a miniature version of a medieval castle was displayed whose gate which was guarded with knights, was open to reveal a tiny vegetable booth next to the castle’s door with bustling little figurines dressed as villagers passing by, a horse stable and a slightly hidden door with iron bars to the far left of the castle, which probably led down to a dungeon.

But that wasn’t what gripped Merlin’s attention. As he followed Merlin’s gaze, Arthur’s eyes landed was the railway network which was built like an infinity sign with a little train following the intertwining loops.

“When Gwaine and I were little, we were always passing by this shop when we were in town.” Merlin’s eyes practically shone. ”I can’t believe they still have the locomotive.”

Arthur looked up the shop’s sign. “ _Monmouth’s toy shop_ , eh?”

“Wanna go in?” Arthur nodded towards the door.

“Can I?” Merlin asked sheepishly, giving him a shy smile.

 

The bell above the door rang when they entered.

If Arthur had imagined an elderly friendly shop assistant greeting them, he was certainly disappointed.

Instead, a giant of a man with bulging muscles surprised them when they entered, his head poking out from behind three big cardboard boxes.

 “Uncle Geoffrey!” The giant shouted towards the door behind the counter, “We have a customer!” He only got a grunt as an answer.

He dropped the boxes on the counter. Now, Arthur could see him wearing a tight polo shirt which looked like it was two sizes too small for him under a ridiculously tiny black apron.

“He’s cleaning his prized knight figurines. Uncle Geoffrey would probably be occupied for the next few hours. I’ll guess you have to take up with me.” He smiled apologetically at Arthur which Arthur returned reflexively.

“No flirting on our date,” Merlin reprimanded him so quietly, so that only Arthur could hear him.

“I’m not!” Arthur hissed, embarrassed. And that shop assistant, Percy, as Arthur got from his name tag, wasn’t even anywhere close to his type. Too well-built and likely too shy for Arthur’s liking.

„I’m sorry?“ Percy asked confused. He pointed to the back door, unsurely, “Do you want me to get my uncle after all?”

Arthur shook his head and said, hastily, “No, no! You’re fine.” He scratched his head, glancing at Merlin to his left who eyed him warily with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

Was he jealous?

“We—I mean, _I_ ,” Arthur corrected himself, “I, erm, wanted to take a look at your shop’s trains?” 

Percy’s eyes lit up. “Sure! Are you looking for toy trains or model trains?”

 _There was a difference?_ Arthur scratched his head. “What might be better?”

“Depends on what you’re looking for.” Percy pulled out a large box from the shelf behind him, pointing a finger at the pictured locomotive on a railroad. “If you have the money and the dedication, I’d go for the model train. They’re an exacting model of the vehicle but obviously built on a reduced scale.” At Arthur’s lost expression, Percy put the toy box back onto the shelf. “But I guess you might want to start with toy trains.”

Arthur shrugged helplessly. Merlin wasn’t a great help either, too mesmerized by all the toys surrounding them.

“Don’t worry, mate. I’ll show you the ropes,“ Percy beckoned him to follow him. As Arthur did, he almost tripped over a bunched up fleece mat.

“Sorry, about that,“ Percy kicked lightly at the mat, until it rolled fully out to cover the ground and nodded towards the shop window. “We’re still renovating.”

“Someone tried to break in?”

“More or less,” Percy answered, leading the way to the back of the toy shop, “our last part-timer didn’t take it too kindly when we laid him off.”

“Talking about me, Percival?”

Before them, a mousy man with long brown hair was leaning on a table in the center of two rows of shelves around them. At his sight, Merlin shied away from him even though he was only visible to Arthur right now. It was understandable though; there was something unsettling about the man with bloodshot eyes and skin stretched tightly over his face.

“Cedric.” Percy narrowed his eyes, his lips turning into a thin, grim line, immediately changing from his previous sweet demeanor. “I thought I told to I wanted you gone before I come back from the storage room.”

Cedric shrugged. “I wasn’t finished talking with you.”

“But I am quite through with you and you should be happy that Uncle Geoffrey isn’t pressing charges against you for vandalism.”

“Oh, come on. Nothing a bit of money can’t fix.” Cedric patted Percy’s shoulder good-naturedly. “Besides, what is a wronged man to do when you refuse to talk to him?”

Close up, Arthur saw how sunken in his cheeks which only emphasized the dark circles under his eyes looked. Arthur wrinkled his nose. There was a weirdly sweet smell coming from Cedric.

“Wronged?!” Percy balled his hands into fists. “I’ve caught you smoking pot in our backroom. And don’t even try to deny it.”  

Cedric, on the other hand, didn’t even look like he was going to deny it. “I’d have offered you one but you were in such a rush to throw me out.”

“Have you no shame?” Even Merlin flinched at Percy’s outrage. “Most of our customers are little children. What if they’ve seen you?!”

“Offer them a toy for consolation?” Cedric joked. He turned to Arthur, grinning at him like he was waiting for Arthur to laugh at his joke.

Arthur didn’t.

“I’m going to get the rest of your belongings from your locker and after that; you’re to never come back here.” To Arthur, a person was always the scariest when they’re calm when you expected them to scream their head purple in their anger. Percy’s rigid posture and collected voice was so intimidating, that even Arthur who wasn’t on the receiving end of his icy stare, had to gulp.

“My god, I would be bored to death if I always live by the rules like him.” Cedric commented disparagingly as they watched Percy’s retreating form. “Don’t you agree with me?” He addressed Arthur.

“No,” Arthur answered dryly.

“What a jerk.” With a flick of his finger, Merlin made the hood on Cedric’s jacket fly up and pull over Cedric’s face, making him shout in surprise and stumble clumsily forwards until he fell right before Arthur’s feet. Merlin sneered.

“ _Merlin!”_ Arthur hissed, warningly.

Merlin sneered. “What? Idiots like him deserve to some punishment.”

“What the hell was that?” Cedric pulled his hood off from his face, breathing raggedly as he checked behind himself for a perpetrator.

Arthur coughed. “The air conditioning is rather strong here, don’t you think so as well?” For good measure, he rubbed the palms of his hands against his shoulders to emphasize it.

Cedric seemed to buy it easily.

“Good for me his brain cells have already been killed off by all the week he has smoked, eh?” Merlin said pettily.

Cedric looked confusedly up at Arthur from the ground. “Have you said something?”

“No, nothing.” Even though he didn’t have the best impression of Cedric, Arthur still offered Cedric his hand which he took gratefully.

His eyes zeroed in on Arthur’s wrist. “What a beautiful bracelet. ”

Arthur jerked his hand away as Cedric’s hand latched greedily on the amber stone in the bracelet.

“Say, where did you get this pretty bracelet?”  He made another attempt at the bracelet which Arthur dodged as well but he found himself literally cornered when his back hit a shelf filled with chess boards of various sizes and material.

“Come on, what do you have to lose?” Cedric gave Arthur an appreciative once-over, “And you definitely look like someone who’s well off. You certainly don’t mind giving me, a pitiful man who just lost his job over some petty thing, your little bracelet as a farewell gift, do you?”

Arthur definitely minded. He was seriously thinking of knocking that creep out but apparently, he wasn’t the only one with such thoughts.

“Scum,” Merlin spat out.

With wonder, Arthur was witnessing once again how Merlin’s usual blue eyes turned into a striking gold. Merlin’s face contorted in rage at the sight of Cedric.

“Don’t you dare touch him.” Cedric looked around himself in confusion. Expectedly since Merlin was still literally air to everyone but Arthur.

Merlin muttered something inaudibly under his breath as he stared intently at Cedric. Unlike with Aredian, Cedric didn’t vanish into nothing; instead, Arthur felt the shelf behind him rattle. To Arthur’s astonishment, a chessboard made entirely out of glass with tiny wood squares on each edge, pulled itself out of the shelf and surged heavily down on Cedric’s head, knocking him out instantly. The chess board fell with a thudding sound on the floor, without a single scratch on the glass.

Cedric’s fall looked comically like that of a swooning maiden backwards which also drew Percy’s attention.

“What happened here?” Percy dropped the satchel in his hand, taking in the scene before him of Arthur backed against a shelf and of Cedric lying unconscious on the ground. He knelt before Cedric, slapping him lightly a few times on the cheek to wake him.

“The chessboard fell on him.” Arthur replied truthfully.

“The chessboard?” Percy glanced at the chess board next to Cedric. “That’s impossible. It’s normally bolted down on the shelf board.”

Arthur bit his lip. “The bolts must have loosened then.” To his side, Merlin was staring wonderingly at his own hands.  

Percy looked skeptical but with no other choice, bought Arthur’s story. “Anyway, I’m sorry for inconvenience. I’ll take care of Cedric here.” He shouldered Cedric easily and addressing Arthur again, he said, “I totally forgot I wanted to show you the toy trains because of Cedric. To make up for the scene I made before, you have my full permission to play with it to your hearts content.”

It was only now, that Arthur noticed that the table Cedric had previously leaned on was fully equipped with a railway network, with two rails running parallel to each other and a red locomotive and a wagon sans vehicle on each of the rails.

Arthur pushed lightly at the joystick at the end of the table; in response, the locomotive drove slowly forwards.

“Race me.” Merlin made a dismissive motion with his hand and suddenly, the wagon shot forwards. Merlin cried out in delight.

“You’re playing dirty!” Challenged, pressed the joystick down until it had enough speed to keep up with Merlin’s vehicle of choice. When Arthur thought him leading and victorious, Merlin grinned slyly at him and with a flick of his wrist, the wagon shot forwards, finishing their tiny race with little effort.

“Maybe I should just stay here and seduce Percy.” Merlin grinned. “I’d never tire of an endless supply of toys.”

“Oi! No cheating on our date,” Arthur repeated Merlin’s words from before. To be honest, Arthur was actually a bit worried.

“Just on our date?” Merlin leered.

“Of course not! Don’t you _ever_ dare to cheat on me, Merlin!” Arthur answered, taken aback.

“You alright here?” Arthur hadn’t even heard Percy returning. Percy looked around. “Were you talking to someone? I heard you shouting just now.”

Arthur cleared his throat, clearly embarrassed. “I, erm, tend to do that when I get excited.”

“Right.” Percy stared at him warily.

“I think I’ll buy this,” Arthur pointed at the table, face still flushed.

“Yeah, alright. I’ll pack you one from the storage room.” Percy regarded him with suspicion but thought better of it and walked away.

“And you thought my popcorn stunt was embarrassing.” Merlin cackled. 

“Oh, shut it, Merlin.” Arthur hid his face in his palms.

 

 

He looked around. It was already Mid-Spring and consequently, the meadow was sprinkled all over with meadowsweet, buttercup, dandelion and daisies.

“It’s chamomile, dollophead!”

 _Huh_. He didn’t even realize that he said that out loud. Arthur rolled his eyes and turned to Merlin. “Well, I’m sorry that not everyone is as knowledgeable about flowers as you, Merlin.” 

Merlin practically beamed at him. “You’re forgiven. Not everyone can be as perfect and cute like me.”

Arthur scratched his chin absent-mindedly. “Why am I attracted to such an oddball?”

“Because I provide good masturbation material.” Merlin crossed his arms in front of his chest, looking extremely pleased with his own answer.

“Is that the mouth you use to kiss your mother?” Sometimes, Arthur was taken aback how much Merlin’s innocent appearance and potty mouth differed from each other. But then again, he might just be a little in love with Merlin’s potty mouth. He sighed.

Arthur bent down to pick the dandelion. 

“I wish I could do that,” Merlin whispered, sadly.

 _Not long now_ , Arthur thought. He raised the flower to Merlin in acknowledgement with a little nod, like he’d do with a wine glass. ”I believe in Alator and Gwaine but it won’t hurt to be a little superstitious, right?”

Merlin knitted his eyebrows in confusion.

“Dandelions work wonders, you know.” When he was younger, Arthur used to wish for a playmate and a younger sibling. Instead, he got both of his wishes in the form of Morgana. His lonely child self couldn’t have been happier back then. And now it was Merlin’s turn to get his wish granted.

Arthur closed his eyes and blew the dandelion clocks off the stem. The clocks scattered all over the meadow, a few even landed of the petals near the sea before dropping of on the water surface before becoming too heavy and sinking to the ground of the sea.

_The next time they’d be here again, he hoped that Merlin could feel the rays of sunshine warming his skin. He hoped that the grass would tickle his bare feet, that a lady bug would fly and land on the bridge of his nose while they laze around in the meadow._

“What did you wish for, Arthur?”

“Skinny dipping with you in the sea.”

Merlin rolled his eyes. “Pervert.”

Arthur grinned.

 

 

Arthur really wondered if it was a good idea to light a circle of candles on a boat made of wood.  Sure, they were on water but that didn’t mean that they were in any less danger should the boat catch fire. They would still need to look out for the debris.

He was glad that he didn’t have to worry about Merlin’s safety. For now, that was. Merlin was floating inside the circle; shooting Arthur worried glances every now and then. But the closer they got to the center of the sea, the more violent the flames got and Arthur strained with breathing evenly but not because of the strenuous effort. Arthur was shocked to see Merlin wasn’t floating anymore; instead, he appeared to be standing with both feet on the boat. Given that Merlin was still looking around worriedly, he hadn’t noticed it yet. But neither had Gwaine.

“Gwaine!” Arthur called out to him from the other side of the boat, wanting to ask if this new development was an anomaly or planned. But when Gwaine didn’t even look his way, Arthur wanted to try again but was stopped abruptly by a sudden tide; dumping his head under the water and making him swallow a few mouthful of it.

It shouldn’t be possible, the weather was clear and there wasn’t even wind blowing. He kicked himself upward, struggling for air but he didn’t seem to get anywhere. Arthur kicked his feet out stronger and breathed heavily out from his nose; the bubbles erupting from him blinded his vision which is why, Arthur didn’t even noticed that his head collided with the boat. The impact made him black out for a few moments and for a moment, Arthur thought that he might die. How ironic that would be. Merlin was never closer to coming back to life while Arthur’s fate decided to be a bitch and rip him from the face of the world. But just then, strong arms gripped him around the middle and dragged him to the side; his hair was roughly yanked backwards while his head rose out of the water.

And finally, air filled his lungs.

“—the fucking hell were you doing there, dumbass?! You could have drowned!” Gwaine had Arthur’s head in a headlock, supporting his heavy weight while he was recovering from the shock.

“Sorry,” He coughed out. His lungs were still burning from the exertion but he was just glad that he could breathe air again.

“Arthur!” He looked up.

When Arthur was young, he used to dawdle his afternoons way reading fairytales. There was one fairytale in particular that he remembered because Morgana read it over and over to him again whenever she slept over.

_“And the mermaid saw the prince revived and that he smiled at everyone around them. But he didn’t smile out to her, for he didn’t know at all that she saved him.”_

Arthur had always wondered what would have happened if the other girl in the fairytale never came, would the prince have noticed the mermaid?  He had always imagined that the prince would have woken up and at the sight of his true saviour, he’d feel safe and comforted.

But reality was anything like that. Merlin wasn’t the one that saved him but he was the first person he saw. Right now, Merlin’s sight frightened him. He was standing in a boat set ablaze and Arthur and s close to tears, it broke Arthur’s heart. Arthur knew that Merlin could never shed tears but at this pitiful sight, he could do nothing but reach out to the hand offered to him.

_“Fuck, Arthur. Don’t touch him!”_

He belatedly registered the words before he was violently ripped apart from Merlin’s hands.

He had felt it. He could touch Merlin’s hand! And Merlin’s hand had squeezed his back. His joy was short lived though; just moments after Gwaine pulled him away, the boat together with Merlin were completely engulfed in flames.

“Fuck off, Gwaine! I need to save Merlin!” He gave him Gwaine a hard shove against the rips but try as he might, Gwaine had an iron grip around his arms.  He needed to get to Merlin, had to save him from the flames.

“Stop it, Arthur. The fire won’t hurt him.” Gwaine threw his arm against Arthur’s throat, constricting his airways and effectively keeping him still. “Look, he isn’t even screaming.”

It was true. Merlin’s face wasn’t even warped in pain but it didn’t mean that the worry wasn’t still there. Then, Merlin’s form crumpled to the ground of the boat.  And it was Arthur then who was screaming.

The boat which was still on fire sunk slowly to the ground of the sea, turning to ashes and debris but Merlin was nowhere in sight.

“We’ve already told you not to touch him until it was over,” Gwaine groaned, easing his grip on him, “Christ, look at the mess you two made.”

Arthur snapped. “Mess?! Is that all you care about? The boat just turned into ashes and you’re complaining? Seriously?!” He shook Gwaine off of him angrily and blindly reached around him. If everything went alright, Merlin should have a body now. He could only hope. He was just about to dive in and look for Merlin when he grabbed something that felt like a human limp. Arthur hauled the limp quickly upwards.

_“What the hell?!”_

It wasn’t Merlin’s wrist that he got hold of, like Arthur first thought but the ankle of a young boy that looked alarmingly like Merlin. A young Merlin who was unconscious and very naked, to be exact.

 

 

“Prepare to lose, Sir Merlin!”

“Raise your sword, Sir Knight!” Merlin cried, picking a sturdy twig up and pointing at Gwaine who threw himself on the ground, rolled to the left until he found himself with a weapon in the form of another but longer twig. He held the twig at both ends above himself, warding off a Merlin who had jumped up and charged at him with his make-do weapon descending down on him.

“You’re thousand years too early, tiny knight,” Gwaine yelled, throwing Merlin easily off him with his palm at Merlin’s abdomen.

Merlin laughed. “Thousand years too early? I think you mean I’m just in time to make you kiss my feet.” It took only two stumbling steps before Merlin caught himself again, ran forward again like the whirlwind he was. He stopped abruptly in front of Gwaine who was so surprised and too slow in his actions to properly react when Merlin made a turn to the left and body slammed into Gwaine’s side. To his luck, Gwaine was still caught off guard that Merlin had an easy time jumping at him again which made Gwaine who had at least four times more body mass than Merlin’s current body, tumble and fall down on the ground with a choked noise.

“Aha!” Merlin sat up on Gwaine and hit at his chest repeatedly with the twig. “Do you give up, Sir Gwaine?”

“I surrender!” Gwaine laughed as he caught the twig in his hand, gripping harder as Merlin was still unwilling to let it go and pulled at it. “Damn. You’ve got me good, Merlin.”

“I’ve won! My first victory against you,” Merlin cried out happily, swinging his legs excitedly around and thus, losing his balance and about to fall off if it weren’t for Gwaine sitting up and grasping his arm.  “Hey! Careful there, half pint.”

“I’m not a half pint,” Merlin argued, annoyed, “I’m a _full pint_ now. I defeated you, remember?”

Gwaine snorted. “Alright, alright. Anything you say, full pint.” He threw his arm over his face, letting himself fall on his back. “I can’t believe I’ve lost against a child with the puniest arms I’ve ever seen.” He sighed.

“Now, now. Don’t be a sore loser.” Merlin rolled to his side, lying with Gwaine on the ground while his head rested on Gwaine’s chest. “I’m just better and obviously smarter. It can’t be helped.”

Gwaine hit his head with the back of his palm. “Don’t get ahead of yourself. I had to hold back since my conscience forbids me from hurting children. Especially those who look like eager puppies.”

“’M not a puppy.” He rubbed his eyes sleepily, exhausted from their little sparring session. Gwaine ruffled his hair. “Correction,” he leaned over and grasped tufts of Merlin’s hair from both sides of his head, pulling the tufts of hair slightly down,“ a cute puppy with fluffy droopy ears.”

“Stop that,” Merlin said, disgruntled. “I’m not a toy.”

“Noooo,” Gwaine drawled out and hugged his face to the crown of Merlin’s head. “You’re Merlin. My best friend since we were wee.”

“And?”

“And who’s puny but can still kick my arse.” Gwaine said with an eye roll.

Merlin petted his head, having been reconciled. “And don’t you forget, Gwaine. Don’t you forget.”

“Hey, Merlin.” Gwaine prodded at his cheek which appeared to be one of his favourite pastimes.

“What?”

“Hey, Merly werlypoo.”

“What?!” He grabbed the fallen twig and hit at Gwaine mindlessly. “Just spit it out.”

“I missed you.”

 

 

Merlin stood on his tiptoes, nose pressed flat against the glass of the bakery shop. Being a kid meant being tiny, and being tiny sucked great time. Gwaine didn’t have any kids’ clothes left, so he made him wear the smallest shirt he could find, figures it would be something ridiculous like his stag clothes with some ridiculous slogan for some guy called Tristan.

“Couldn’t you have at least bought me some actual fitting clothes, Gwaine? I’m running around in shorts that I could fill twice and a pink shirt that always slips from my shoulders like I’m some indecent woman from the Victorian era.” Not to mention he was itching all over. Merlin didn’t even want to know if Gwaine had washed the clothes beforehand. Probably not but if he didn’t have a definite answer, he could at least pretend they were clean.

Gwaine turned him around, crouched low until he was on eyelevel with Merlin and fussing over him, tying the waistband as tight possible. “Don’t get all prissy now, half pint,” he grabbed Merlin’s chin between his forefinger and thumb and turned his head back towards the bakery shop. “Do you remember Iron lady Annis?”

Of course he remembered her. After becoming a widow, she returned to her hometown with her son Fyrien and opened her own bakery shop, wasting no time to mourn her husband but instead honouring him by naming her bakery _Caerleon_ after her late husband. Merlin was also the only child that could charm her and be rewarded with her famous cookies. His mouth watered at the thought of them.

Although she seemed to have more wrinkles in her face now but she was still very much the stunning and a tad frightening woman Merlin remembered her to be when he was a child.

“So, what’s the deal with her?”

Gwaine tapped against the glass and nodded towards the girl coming from the kitchen, holding a tablet with what looked like cinnamon buns. Her long brown hair was loosely tied back in a tail and while Merlin wouldn’t exactly say she was a looker, she certainly looked sweet and nice. Merlin instantly liked her.

“Sefa approached me about this job. A few months ago, Annis’ son died in a car accident and since then, strange things are happening in the bakery.“ 

“Like what? A few bread slices disappearing?” Merlin arched an eyebrow. “Are you sure, you’re not just trying to use me as a cuteness factor to get close to her?”

“Nah,” Gwaine made dismissive motion with his hand. “She’s an orphan just like us. If she doesn’t fall for my good looks and charms, as unlikely as it is, I’m going for the pity route.“

Merlin scoffed.

“Anyway, you’re not taking this seriously, half pint,“ he ruffled Merlin’s hair, earning Gwaine a scowl, “No, not bread slices. Sefa told me that while she was working in the kitchen, she heard wheels screeching as loudly in her ears as if she was standing in the street and when she turned around to see where the noise was coming from, the pots and jars were stuck on the ceiling, dough was running out of the tab and all the ovens were turned on.”

He gulped. “You think it has something to do with Annis’ son?”

“Most likely. And that’s why I need your help to approach Annis.”

“Why me?” Gwaine started to poke at his cheeks; his fingers sinking deep into the baby fat Merlin was now sporting again. He slapped Gwaine’s hand away in irritation.

“Because you’re cute and tiny and she has a soft spot for you since before. God knows why she always liked you more than me. ” And then the jerk pinched Merlin’s cheeks.

“Ow! Gwaine, what the hell was that for?” Damn, Gwaine knew he bruised like a peach since they were playing knights in the back of the yard. Merlin most likely looked like one of those eerie porcelain dolls now.

“I’m making you cuter. Now, would you look at those rosy cheeks? I tell you, she’s going to eat out of your hands. Or more like, feeding you cinnamon buns and scones to fatten you up.”

“You’re still a dick. I probably look like I have mumps now.” Merlin pouted. He was a child, therefore he was allowed to act childish and petulant. He touched his tender skin, wincing, when felt the receding indentions Gwaine has left on his throbbing cheeks. 

“Now, now, don’t be like that. I’m your best friend; you have to play nice with me.” Gwaine unfastened the black cord with the dull blue stone he always wore on his right wrist and tied it around Merlin’s neck. “You’re going to need this if you want to detect the ghost. Anyways, just get your baby butt in there and charm her with your doe eyes. Remember, we need to verify whether it’s really Fyrien and what’s keeping him from moving on.” He ushered Merlin from their hiding spot to the bakery, hissing, “Don’t forget to act like a child and be as cute as possible, Merlin!”

He scoffed. “I’m always cute.”

 

 

Alright, he could do that. He was a ghost come back alive, there shouldn’t be anything he couldn’t face. Sweet-talking Annis? No biggie.

He thought that, but Merlin marched into the bakery with the self-confidence of a child with cavity, braving the walk to the dentist. With each step, his feet became more and more like jelly and Merlin was afraid that he’d face plant any moment on the floor. But maybe it wouldn’t be that bad if he actually did. Merlin could blackmail Annis into let him stay long enough until they got hold of the ghost or threaten to sue her. Yeah right, like he could sue her for his own clumsiness.

“Can I help you, young man?” Merlin startled, pulled out from his thoughts. She didn’t sound unkind but one look into her slightly wrinkled face made Merlin feel like an unworthy peasant in her presence. Oh god, someone get him out here.

“Umm,” Merlin said intelligently, “Just—just looking around.” He was going for an innocent smile but he was so nervous, he practically felt his cheeks stretch unnaturally wide, exposing all his teeth.

She then looked at his shirt and smirked. “Aren’t you a bit too young for that?”

Merlin looked confusedly down, grabbing the hem of the shirt with both hands and keeping the cloth taut.

_I’m the hottest cupcake!_

“Umm,” Merlin scratched his chin. He didn’t think that she would actually react to that line. He pulled the shirt up to reveal the tank top underneath it that Gwaine made him wear to keep him from freezing. Sure enough, it made Annis chuckle.

_Tastier than a cupcake._

“Please don’t eat me though, auntie.”

Annis raised an eyebrow, pushing a stray lock behind her ear, “We’ll see about that.” She looked expectedly behind him, craning her neck to see at the entrance, “And your parents? Where’s your mother?”

He gulped and said with a quiet, squeaky voice, getting quitter as he talked, “Don’t have one. Don’t have anyone.”  Good one, Merlin. Make her pity you and appeal to her maternal instincts to do your biddings.

“Are you sure?” Crap. Had she figured him out? He always sucked at lying. He tended to get clammy hands and sweat until he soaked his shirt through and talk so fast that he’d bit his tongue. He was done for.

“But isn’t he with you? That man over there.”

“Eh?” Merlin looked up to her and when she pointed behind him, he did a double take. There, in broad daylight and obviously on display for everyone to see, stood Gwaine with his nose pressed flat against the glass door entrance. Gwaine gave them a wave. That idiot was going to blow his cover!

“I don’t know this man!” He ran around the corner and in a last desperate attempt, flung his body at her, clinging on her apron.  He looked at her with big, round eyes and didn’t even try the least to tone down with his quivering lips. “Actually, this weirdo has been following me all day. Auntie, you need to let me stay here and protect me from him!”

Her hair bun fell slightly apart from the impact of Merlin’s little body, making a good chunk of her hair fall down on her shoulders and framing her face. She instantly looked much kinder and more approachable to him.

Merlin bit on his bottom lip, bouncing on the balls of his feet to get rid of his nervous energy. Annis was still giving him her measured look, giving nothing away. He startled when she gingerly held his face up with both of her hands. “You’re certainly cute and tiny. No wonder that pervert is after you.”

Merlin could only nod. He needed to save his skin first and foremost after all.

“Alright, you can stay here. But I’ll take you to the police station after I’m finished with work.” She ruffled his hair in an affectionate manner and for the first time, Merlin thought of her as a nice motherly figure. Merlin beamed at her.

Annis loosened the grip he still had on her and stepped back, patting his head gently. “I need to prepare some dough for tomorrow now. Take care of the counter, won’t you? Call me when a customer comes.”

Merlin saluted her. “Leave it to me, auntie!”

“Good boy.” She gave him a smile and then retreated back to the kitchen where Sefa was probably busily preparing the next batch of yummy cinnamon buns. When the kitchen door flung shut behind her, Merlin dropped the innocent boy act and whipped his head to face Gwaine with an angry glare.

 _Idiot_ , Merlin mouthed and made some shooing motions with his hands. He really wondered how Gwaine ever successfully completed a job when he sucked so much at his disguise. But instead of leaving, Gwaine waved like crazy and the proceeded to point excitedly at his own chest. When Merlin frowned in confusion, Gwaine used the finger which had just pointed at his chest, to point at Merlin’s chest. He looked down on himself.

The blue stone gleamed in an electric blue colour.

 

 

He had to act fast now.

“Auntie, I’m really hungry right now.” Merlin tucked at Annis’ apron, already feeling his hand sliding through the floor stuck on her apron.

She ruffled his hair, affectionately. “That’s fine by me. Just choose one from the display.”

Merlin took his sweet time. The bakery was closing for today and they were wrapping things up, meaning that she was about to send him off to the police station any moment. He couldn’t have that.

He tapped his index finger to his lips, pretending to be having a hard time choosing a pastry. “I think I’ll have the lemon pie.”

“Alright.” Annis reached for the plate with the lemon pie and cut him a generous piece out.

“No! Wait, Auntie!” Merlin yelled. He grabbed onto Annis hands which were still wrapped around a knife. “You can’t! You absolutely can’t! I forgot to tell you something extremely important.”

Annis humoured him but carefully extracted his hands from hers. “What is it, young man?”

“It’s Merlin!” He chirped but then went on to lie, “I forgot to tell you that I absolutely am not allowed to eat any milk products. I’ve been told I’ll die if I eat them anyway.”

“You must be lactose intolerant.” She put the knife safely out of reach for him. “But don’t worry; I think whoever told you that you’d die exaggerated a bit. You’ll get heavy cramps but you’d still live.”

“Here,” she withdrew another plate from the counter with a brown sponge cake which was of a denser texture than the lemon pie. It was garnished with a tiny carrot on top of each slice, probably made out of marzipan. “Have a carrot cake. The unique taste might not be to everyone’s liking but I anguished months over the perfect receipt that even children will be all over the cake. Will you be my little guinea pig and taste it for me?”

“I’m not a picky eater,” Merlin said and stroked distractedly over the blue stone jst over his heart.

_“What the hell is that, Merlin?!” Arthur pulled a face when Merlin served him a bowl of a stroppy soup made out of diced potatoes and carrots. Merlin noted that this Arthur had rounded and softer features, his hair was also lighter and longer than Merlin was used to._

_He smiled brightly at Arthur. “Carrot soup with leftover potatoes, sire. The cook wanted to throw them out for the pigs but I thought it might be just perfect dish to get you back in shape.”_

_“Back in shape?” Arthur asked, irritated. “I’m fighting fit! And where the hell is my meat? How am I supposed to lead my knights when my stupid manservant feeds me rabbit food?” He scratched his arm through his red loose tunic, scrutinizing the food before him with distaste._

_“It’s actually pig food, your highness” Merlin corrected, not the least fazed by Arthur’s outrage._

_“Don’t you dare get all cheeky on me so early this morning, Merlin.” He wrinkled his nose but ate the soup anyway. Arthur cleared the bowl in less than two minutes which was a feat since Arthur barely considered anything a meal without a good chunk of mea thrown in there._

_“You like my cooking!” Merlin concluded and beamed, eyes wrinkling in the corners._

_“Don’t be ridiculous.”_

_But the red tips of his ears betrayed Arthur despite claiming otherwise._

Merlin blinked his eyes, dazed.

_Why was he humbling himself to Arthur like a servant?_

A daydream? No. It felt too real and besides, if Merlin was daydreaming, Arthur’s and his roles should have been reversed for all he cared.  There was no way he actually wished to be Arthur’s doormat.

He shook his head, trying to get rid of his reverie. It couldn’t have been him; couldn’t have been his memories and yet, calmness bloomed inside his chest and Merlin’s mouth wrinkles were at a risk to comically stretch upward, like he was recalling a fond memory and felt the giddiness from it. While his mind couldn’t recall the memory, his body sure did.

“Alright there?” Annis brushed strands of hair out of his eyes, staring at him with barely concealed worry as Merlin thoughtlessly leaned into her touch.

Merlin hummed.

“Just a bit hungry,” he lied.

She held out a bite of pierced cake on a fork in front of his mouth. “What a lovely coincidence we have lots of cake here, don’t you think so?”

He took the fork out of her grip and gingerly put the bite sized cake into his mouth, chewing a bit on it. 

“Delicious!” Merlin said, awed. He leaned over the counter and pierced another piece of the carrot cake on his fork and blissfully chomped it, enjoying the sensation on his tongue of the nuts and carrot mixing together with the biscuit in his mouth. Merlin blissfully repeated this process until to his dismay; he found there was barely even a crumb left on the plate. Merlin looked up to Annis and went all out with the big, pleading eyes. Surely, she knew what she had to do, right?

Annis gave a small laugh. “You’ll get your seconds, don’t worry.”

Merlin’s ears perked up.

“Just let me get my coat and I’ll wrap you a big piece of cake for later in the police station.” She untied the ribbon of her apron on the back and when she got the sling over her head, Merlin used her moment of temporary blindness to turn to the entrance and look frantically for Gwaine. He was nowhere to be found.

 

“Don’t be like this”, Annis pulled a reluctant Merlin on the hand with her to the entrance. When Merlin stubbornly gripped the edge of the counter with his other hand, she misread his behaviour as fear and added, “I’ll wait with you until someone picks you up.”

“I want to stay here, auntie!”

Annis dropped his hand.  But any feelings at winning the pull and tug war vaporized, when she thundered, “I won’t condone this childish behaviour any longer.”

“But I _am_ a child,” Merlin countered meekly. Too further emphasize his point, he threw a tantrum, “There’s cake and there’s a big chance I’ll get to be spoilt by you if I play my cards right. There’s no way I want to leave. I _have_ to stay here.”

“Young boy—,” Annis started, warningly and stopped, when a bell rang, signaling the entrance of a customer.

“There’s no need for the police. _I’m_ his guardian.”

“Gwaine!” Merlin cried out happily when he realized who came to his help. Unfortunately, Merlin had forgotten he had betrayed Gwaine not so long ago and marked him out as a sex fiend. Annis, on the other hand, had not.

“I thought you said this man was a pervert.” Annis narrowed her eyes at Gwaine; pulling Merlin behind her back to what she thought was safety.

“I lied!” Merlin said and ripped himself free from Annis’ grip.

“He lied!,” Gwaine repeated but held his arms up when Annis shot him a dark look.

“The truth is,” Merlin stammered out, strill trying to come up with a believable excuse he could dish out when an idea crossed his mind. “The truth is that Gwaine has the biggest crush on Sefa but is too shy to ask her out.”

Merlin could pat himself on the shoulder for that excuse. He was so clever!

He puffed his chest out. “So he needs _me_ , his little brother, to look after him.”

“You?” Annis asked, skeptical.

Merlin nodded.

“As a fellow cake lover you must know that I’m trustworthy.”

She crossed her arms in front of her chest and said, dryly, “Every child loves cake.”  

“Not every child,” Merlin objected. He pointed an accusing finger at Gwaine who smiled amusedly to himself over Merlin’s struggle to stay on Annis’ good side. _Bloody wanker_. “Gwaine can’t stand any form of cake or pie unless at least one third of it is made out of apples.”

Gwaine shrugged. “Apples are healthy and keep me in shape. Unlike those fattening snacks.”

Annis shrugged out of her coat, having finally giving up to drag Merlin to the police station. “So going by your logic he’s untrustworthy because he doesn’t like cakes and what’s more,” she threw the door to the kitchen open and beckoned a confused Sefa out, “you’re trying to woo my precious baker apprentice by badmouthing her work and passion.”

“So much for relying on you, Merlin.” Gwaine muttered under his breath.

“Sorry.” Merlin hung his head in shame. Well, that plan backfired.

 

Sefa lifted her eyes to them, after dusting her hands on her aprons which were covered in flour. She was the epitome of confusion as her eyes followed an annoyed Annis, a depressed Merlin until her eyes finally rested on Gwaine.

“You?” She stared at Gwaine bemusedly.  

Annis glanced between the two of them. “You know each other?”

Gwaine stepped in front of Annis and diffused her attention from Sefa. “Ah, not really. I was buying apples in the market but was short on a penny and she helped me out.”

He shrugged. “I guess apples are the way to my heart.”

Merlin snorted.

When Gwaine swatted the crown of his head with his palm, Merlin cleared his throat and pulled Gwaine with the same hand to the front towards Sefa.

Merlin gleefully clapped his hands together. “Perfect! Now we can all go into the kitchen to bake and Sefa can show Gwaine why cakes should be served for breakfast, lunch and dinner.” “Then I won’t catch a cold anymore.”

He shot Annis a winning smile who looked at him for a minute and shrugged, clearly unable to go up against a child’s charms.

 

“Um, did I blow your cover?” Sefa bent down to her knees and cupped left hand to whisper against Merlin’s ear as Annis and Gwaine talked on the other side of the kitchen.

“Nah, everything’s fine,” Merlin replied. He scrunched his nose when after some arguing, Gwaine pulled his mobile out and made a call.

Sefa tapped him on the shoulder and when he looked up at her, she pointed to the cupboard to their left. “It’s in there. The spirit, I mean.”

Merlin’s brows furrowed. “How did you manage to keep him locked in there?”

She winked at him. “Oh, you know, Gwaine taught me the basic ropes.”

Merlin hummed, unsatisfied with the cryptic answer.

 

“How long are you going to make us wait, Gwaine?” Merlin complained, tapping his foot impatiently. It had been ten minutes already.

Gwaine flicked index finger against his forehead which made a loud smacking sound.

“Ow!”

“Patience is a virtue, half pint. We’re waiting for your mummy to pick you up. Thanks to you, Annis still thinks I’m a child abducting sex fiend.” 

“My… mummy?” Merlin scrunched his nose in confusion. “I don’t have a mother and you very well know it.”

“You do now,” Gwaine said, nodding towards the door where heavy steps approached the kitchen.

“Merlin!” Arthur threw the sliding doors to the kitchen vigorously open, practically sliding on the tiled floor in his haste to get to Merlin.“

He knelt on one knee, cupping Merlin’s face in his hands. Worry was written all over his face.

“Where did you bump your head?” He turned Merlin’s face gently from side to side. “You really need to take care of the few brain cells you have left.”

“You’re awfully rude for someone who’s supposedly worried about me,” Merlin remarked, dismayed. “And I’m as perfectly fine as a flawlessly peeled egg, dollophead.”

“You sure?” Arthur brushed Merlin’s fringe from his forehead, feeling for any bumps or cuts on his forehead.

“I’m glad.” Arthur sighed in relief. “But Gwaine said—“

Simultaneously, they turned to Gwaine. “Gwaine. “ Merlin drew his name out, turning it into a word with two syllables.

Gwaine, on the other hand, blissfully ignored him. “Ha! I knew it. Figures it would take one word of Merlin in danger to make you race here.”

“I was seriously worried!” Merlin flinched as Arthur’s fingers dug into his shoulders.

Gwaine waved him away. “You don’t get to be mad at me, you cradle robber!”

“Cradle robber?! What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“No need to be shy. As long as you treat Merlin nice, we’ve got no problem with each other.” So that was how girls felt when their fathers threatened their boyfriends. Merlin sunk his head in embarrassment.

“I guess I should call the police after all, “Annis cut in. She narrowed her eyes at the three of them. Gwaine, at last, had the decency to flush.

“It’s not like that,” he back pedaled. “I just tend to take my jokes a bit too far. You see, the pair of them always like to leave me the odd one out even though _I’m_ Merlin’s brother. Tragic isn’t it?” Even though it wasn’t far from the  truth, Merlin doubted Annis would easily buy it.

“Besides,” Merlin chipped in, trying to give Gwaine’s story a solid ground, “Arthur is already dating my super handsome cousin who’s also called Merlin.”

“Oh, what a coincidence.” Annis eyes only hardened at his comment. Damn. She probably thought Arthur and Gwaine forced him to play along.

“Next time you’re trying to be helpful,“ Arthur hissed into his ear, “just keep quiet.”

Merlin rolled his eyes. “Like you’re of any help.”

“Isn’t that Gwaine’s?“ Arthur put his hand over Merlin’s bracelet with the blue stone.

Merlin pinched the skin between Arthur’s thumb and index finger. “Got a problem with it?”

When Arthur slightly pulled his hand aside to avoid this torture, Merlin’s fingers brushed lightly over the stone.

Merlin’s mouth opened in surprise when it pulsed like a beating heart under his touch. He felt his eyes drooping, comforted by the stone which warmed in his hand, beating rhythmically and calmingly.

_A memory of a pretty girl with a velvety cape around her petite frame and a sweet smile flashed through his mind. Her image was fastly replaced of Arthur, dressed like a knight, kissing her and following her as in a daze while she led him by her hands deeper into the sea. “Sophia…”_

Merlin frowned.

He glared at Arthur, accusingly. “You were cheating on me!”

Arthur looked like he was recovering from a daze. Blinking rapidly as he registered Merlin’s words. “I was not!”

Merlin snatched his hand away from Arthur’s grip, tumbling backwards from the force.

“Merlin! Get away from there!” Gwaine yelled, agitated. His eyes were drawn to Merlin’s feet, looking unsettled at what he saw.

 Merlin looked at his feet. He was standing in what looked like a circle of sugar. Or was I salt? Admittedly, his feet had dragged part of the salt away having effectively destroyed the circle.

He had no time to ponder over what the circle of salt was doing there because the cupboard behind him rattled ominously.

It stilled and Merlin reached forward, curiosity drawing him in.

“Merlin, don’t! Stay back!” The despair in Gwaine’s voice stilled Merlin mid-movement.

Unfortunately, the doors broke free from the hinges, leaving Merlin with barely enough time to shield his face behind his arms before they flew against him.

“Damn!” Arthur, who was standing closest to him, threw himself in his way, using his own body to cushion’s Merlin’s fall.

“Are you alright?” Arthur kicked the broken door away from their bodies. Merlin nodded, unconsciously shielding his throbbing right arm from Arthur’s view.

“ _Annis!_ ” Merlin looked up in surprise. Behind them, Sefa was sitting on the floor while she supported Annis who looked like she was clearly in pain. The other door was lying shattered to their feet.

“What happened?” Merlin tried to stand up but was restricted by a worried Arthur who tightened his arms around him.

“Must have been Fyrien’s work.” Gwaine loaded the gun in his hands. “You’ve kinda freed him from Sefa’s trap.”

Merlin bit his lip. “I’m sorry.”

Gwaine gave him a winning smile and winked. “Don’t be. Your big brother is going to handle this.”

“Fyrien?” Annis tore herself away from Sefa and grabbed Gwaine’s leg to get his attention. “What does that have to do with my son?”

“I suppose you were wondering about the strange happenings around you and Sefa, right?” Gwaine saw her brows furrowing. She nodded. “We believe Fyrien’s spirit has some unsettled business here.”

“Fyrien’s spirit?!” Annis laughed incredulously. “You must be joking. Who would believe such rubbish?!”

“Then can you deny what your own eyes see?”

Merlin looked around.

The tab had started to run on its own but instead of water, sand was running out, filling the basin and overflowing. Knives and forks were hovering above their heads with their sharp ends pointing towards them.

“A trick. It must be a trick,” Annis muttered under his breath. “There’s no way this is Fyrien. Impossible.”

“Oh yeah?  And why is that?” Gwaine grabbed her roughly by her forearm and shove her towards Sefa when the knives above her rained down on Annis.

“It’s because he’s alive! He faked his death!”

“What do you mean?” Sefa looked positively shocked.

Merlin noted with surprise that Sefa was the only one who didn’t have any sharp objects flying over her head. More than that, he had even witnessed that some of the knives were deflected by the forks when they got too close to her.

“I’m sorry for keeping this from you, Sefa.” Annis smiled her apologetically. “Fyrien has embezzled money from one of the companies in the city he worked for.” Annis blinked the tears in her eyes away. “Even though I know it’s wrong, there’s no way I, as his mother, could simply watch him got to jail without doing anything to help him.”

Gwaine looked on wordlessly.

“Look there!” Arthur pointed at the stainless steel fridge which took in half of the wall on the left. The surface of it fogged up and out of nowhere, letters were written one by one on its own.

_Release her._

Gwaine pointed his gun towards the fridge, watching the surroundings of it closely. “If not Fyrien, then, Caerleon?”

Sefa shook her head, cradling the head of the unconscious Annis in her lap who had fainted from the hit on her head the shock of the situation. “But why would Annis’ husband appear only now, years after his death? It makes no sense.”

“Then who else?!”

At his shout, the knives repositioned themselves about their head, sailing down on them.

“No.” Sefa’s frightened eyes began to fill tears. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut, burying her hands tightly into her hair. “Daddy! Daddy, save me!”

Abruptly, the knives stopped mid-air.

“Gwaine…” Merlin had a hunch for a while now when he saw Sefa being the only one left unharmed. But now he was sure of it.

“I know,” Gwaine replied.

He approached Sefa. “Let me try something.“ Gwaine took a kitchen knife from the ground and took hold of Sefa’s left hand. She looked at him wonderingly.

“Sorry,” he said and cut her index finger. Sefa winced in pain and immediately withdrew her hand from him.

Like a watchdog, sensing his master in danger, Gwaine was attacked by an onslaught of kitchen ware. Gwaine easily rolled himself to the ground and hid himself under a wide marmor board set in between two ovens.

“Sefa! Call him back.” Gwaine began to shot randomly at in the air.

“What?” Sefa’s mouth was open in shock at what she saw.

“It’s your father! Tell him to stop!” Merlin shouted at her, throwing himself at Arthur when the spirit chose him as the next target. Thankfully, it missed them by a hairbreadth. “Just do it!”

Sefa gulped. “Daddy? Daddy, can you hear me?” She called out falteringly.

In answer to her call, the spirit materialized in the middle of the room. Ruadan Diamair finally made his appearance.

“Sefa, my dear daughter. Haven’t I given you enough warnings to leave this place?” He sounded tired. “Return at once to home.”

Even though, he was a ghost like Merlin once was, Ruadan was engulfed in a blue sheen, giving him the ghostly quality to scare people away at his sight which Merlin so sorely lacked.

“But daddy, why?” Sefa’s tears were freely flowing now that she was face to face with her father. Unlike her mind, her body had already caught up with the shock, reacting to it.  

He smiled sadly at her. “You’re my heiress. Doing manual labour in this shoddy place is beneath you.”

Sefa shook her head. “That’s not true. I—I love it here. This is my home now.”

“Enough!” Ruadan hollered. “Don’t disobey me and leave this place.”

“Aren’t you her father?” Arthur snapped. Merlin fastened the fabric of Arthur’s shirt, worried that Arthur might become the next recipient of Ruadan’s wrath. “Shouldn’t you support whatever your child’s decision is?”

“What does a boy like you know?” Ruadan scoffed. “As her father, I only wish for Sefa’s welfare.”

“And what about Sefa’s own wishes?” Gwaine laid a hand on Sefa’s shoulder, squeezing it comfortingly. He must have left his hiding spot when no one was looking. “Will you simply dismiss them?”

Ruadan narrowed his eyes. He looked expectantly at Sefa.

After taking a deep breath, she looked at her father with clear determination. “I want to stay here. The village, the people here, I care for them. This is my home now, father.”

“Then, tell me, are you happy?”

She smiled warmly at him. “Yes.”

“I see.” He returned her smile which dimmed when he addressed Gwaine, “Young man, you can put your gun away. Even though I’m going to Sefa’s wishes to stay, I’m still going go watch over her until I’m sure she’s safe from all danger.”

He gave a warning look at Gwaine before completely disappearing again.

Gwaine scratched his head. “When he said danger, did he mean me?”

“Well, that was a rather anti-climactic end.” Merlin rested his cheek lazily on Arthur’s chest. Smiling, when he saw Sefa blushing at Gwaine’s question.

Arthur sighed. He flicked Merlin’s forehead which earned him an indignant outcry from Merlin.

“You’re such a handful.”

 

 

“Merlin?”

Arthur only got a grunt as an answer.

“Would you mind sleeping somewhere that is not my face? You know, it’s getting harder to breathe.” Ugh, Arthur was pretty sure he had to endure him sprawling all over his face for quite some time, since Merlin’s exposed belly was already slightly damp from Arthur trying and failing miserably to wriggle himself free, his breathing irregular from his fear of suffocation. 

“Don’t wanna,” Merlin slurred, still drowsy with sleep. Just because he became a child again, doesn’t mean he had to become bratty as well.

If he had known Merlin was a restless sleeper, he’d never have agreed on letting him sleep in his bed. In the last four hours, he’s already been kicked three times in the face. In times like these, Arthur preferred Merlin being a ghost much more. A kid-sized Merlin was a danger to Arthur’s sanity and health.

“If you don’t move over soon, I’ll die of suffocation and then I’ll be the one to haunt you. You sure you’d be alright with this arrangement?”

Merlin snorted. “You’d make a shitty ghost, Arthur. You’d probably be the vainest ghost the world has seen. ‘Oh, am I translucent enough? Would I look better when I pop out from this angle in the wall? Is my hair floaty enough?’” In the end, Merlin relented and rolled down to from his comfy sleeping position on Arthur to the bed but then thought better of it and rolled back to Arthur’s side, burying his face into Arthur’s chest. “Yeah, I’d like to see that.”

„That’s it!“

Arthur grabbed a handful of the blanket and tugged it from under Merlin way, consequently making him flips over onto his belly. He was either still drowsy from sleep or couldn’t be bothered to turn on his back since he only turned his head to the side, facing Arthur with a frown. “What the hell was that for?!”

He held the corners of the blanket out as Arthur body planked onto Merlin’s tiny frame, wrapping the blanket tightly around Merlin’s form when he landed as Merlin let out the girliest scream he had ever heard. Oh, Arthur is so going to use it against him once he turned back into an adult.

“Child abuse, child abuse!” Merlin cried while relentlessly trying to wriggle himself free. He had half a mind to feel bad about crushing Merlin with his adult body and thought about getting up but then he remembered how the less than alive version of Merlin taunting him, scaring him and also making fun Arthur’s chubby baby self. Nope, Arthur was going to proceed teaching him a lesson.

“Shut it, _half-pint_ ,” he grinned when he heard Merlin’s growl at hearing his hated newly found pet name. Bless Gwaine. He stopped struggling altogether and Arthur was worried for a moment that he had suffocated him. Dead people couldn’t die again, right? But then Merlin kicked wildly around himself, jerking his full bod around until his face turned beet red from his fruitless endeavour.

“Lemme go, lemme go, you clotpole!” Merlin whined.

He scoffed, “Not a chance.” Arthur began to roll Merlin around the bed until he was fully wrapped in the blanket, arms tightly pressed to his side and his face set into an angry scowl. “Pendragon, you’re so dead.”

Arthur tutted. “Better use your energy to admire my handiwork,“ he patted Merlin’s bum which was tightly secured in the blanket and stage-whispered, “Marvel at the beauty of the Merlin-roll.”

“I’ll give you a Merlin-kick if you don’t unwrap me this instant!” But alas, his aim was so poor, it was almost pitiful. His clumsy kicks made Merlin topple over, turning himself on his belly once again. Arthur snorted when Merlin got his little bum high in the air and went on making jerky moves with his knees to move forward, reminiscing Arthur of the big fat caterpillars he saw in the back garden of his house. Only this one was much, much cuter and probably also, set on killing Arthur once he turned into a beautiful butterfly (read: freeing his arms).

After enjoying watching Merlin’s struggle as a caterpillar for a few more seconds, Arthur gave in to his conscience and picked Merlin up, gently letting Merlin down onto Arthur’s chest.

“Aren’t you going to free me, dickhead?” Merlin huffed, still wriggling wildly around but to no avail. 

“For this comment,” Arthur tugged the blanket tighter around Merlin’s shoulder, “I’d rather not and also, I prefer not waking up all bruised and battered thanks to you dreaming about being an action hero battling all the baddies.” He gave Merlin a mock-kiss on his forehead. “Sleep tight, little Merlin-roll.”

Merlin scowled but stopped struggling. “Whatever.”

 

 

_Arthur wondered how people could even sleep on their bellies, his insides clenched at the mere thought of it. And yet, Merlin was sleeping peacefully sprawled light a starfish on the middle of the bed, having likely untangled himself from the blanket in the night._

_He meant to approach Merlin, wake him up gently but before he knew it, he was already at Merlin’s side but not sitting on the bed, but actually with his body passing through it. Arthur should have freaked out, screamed in terror but besides quirking an eyebrow, he couldn’t bring himself to care. He felt like he was in a daze._

_“You know, you’re really bad at this,” Merlin rubbed the sleep from his eyes, elaborating when Arthur looked at him confusedly, not a clue what he was talking about. “The whole ghost business, I mean.”_

_“Ghost?” He looked down on himself and sure enough, his body was as translucent as Merlin’s was when he used to be a ghost. It’s also the first time he noticed that he was floating when he rose up in the air until he was hovering a few inches above the bed._

_Merlin crawled from the bed until he was standing before Arthur, hands at his hips. “You need to actually scare people. “ He pointed to the wall, “Pop through the wall or the floor or you know, and pass through me to give me the chills.”_

_Arthur blinked. “Am I really that bad at this?” He shook his head. “That can’t be.”_

_“You suck, you suck!” Merlin yelled, stomping his foot childishly on the ground repeatedly like a little child throwing a tantrum._

_“Riiight,” Arthur drawled, annoyed, “because you’re so much better at it than me.”_

_“I actually am.” Merlin pointed his finger at a spot pass Arthur, making the latter turn around to see to what Merlin was pointing at. “Watch me, Arthur!”_

_If Arthur said he was flabbergasted, it would be the biggest understatement the world has ever heard of because when he turned around, he came face to face with another Merlin, though this one was an adult and as much as dead as Arthur was in the moment._

_When he turned around, the adolescent version of Merlin was still watching him with a smug expression on his face._

_“What’s the meaning of this?”_

_Instead of answering him, Merlin puffed his chest out, grinning happily at him, “Told you, I’m the better one!”_

_The adult Merlin floated to Arthur’s side and reached out for Arthur; he wanted to tell him to stop, because he was a spirit and therefore, any attempts to touch him would be in vain. But Merlin’s hand did touch him and Arthur wanted to laugh out loud; he should have foreseen it, should have known that another ghost would be able to do so. And then, Merlin pulled him in for a hug, sighing happily, “Finally. I was waiting for you, my lord.”_

_My lord?_

_“No!” The adolescent Merlin cried out, “Look at me, Arthur! Look at me, not him.”_

_But when Arthur in fact turned to face him, instead of seeing a child, he saw Merlin all grown up again. And very much alive._

_“Please give him back to me.”_

_Arthur wondered to whom Merlin’s plea was addressed to but forgot about it instantly, when he felt his eyes getting heavier and heavier with each second. A moment later, he fell forward through the ghost Merlin._

 

When he became back to his senses, Arthur found himself on the bed, embracing a naked and adult Merlin. His child-sized clothes lay in shreds around him, probably ripped from the sudden growth spurt overnight. Merlin was staring back at him.

“Hey.”

“You’re big again.” Arthur said, awed. He reached for Merlin’s face, stroked his cheeks. He was pleased when he saw Merlin’s eyelashes fanning over his cheeks when he closed his eyes, blushing at Arthur’s touch.

Yeah, I’m big again,” Merlin repeated, shaking his head slightly at Arthur’s clumsy choice of words. “I’m also very naked now.”

“Looks good to me,” Arthur said with a grin, hands wandering down from Merlin’s nape to his shoulder blades, caressing the pale and smooth skin.

Merlin drew the blanket over his shoulders; slapping Arthur’s wandering hand lightly as he laughed. “So I was right. You _are_ a little pervert, Arthur!”

When Arthur pressed his lips together, put off at Merlin’s insult, Merlin let go of the blanket and shuffled to Arthur’s side to give him an one armed hug while they lay in bed. “You’re playing unfair. Don’t get all cute and adorable on me with your pouty lips and your messy bed hair.”

Now that he had found out Merlin’s weakness to his bed hair and just woken up appearance, Arthur proceeded to make good use of this knowledge, filing this information back for future reference. But right now, Arthur’s only concern was getting a good look on Merlin’s naked form. He peeled the blanket further away, down to the small of Merlin’s back, marveling at the expanse of all the pale unmarred skin. Arthur’s mouth watered at the sight.

Arthur drove his clipped and trimmed nails over Merlin’s back, transfixed at the wondrous sight before him. His nails left a white trail behind, whiter than Merlin’s skin, before his skin a lovely pink around the long lines of scratching marks. His nails were short enough not to leave any lasting mark behind and Arthur made sure, not to put too much pressure to it and possibly breaking Merlin’s skin.

“Oh my god, “ Merlin hid his face into Arthur’s neck, his exhales of air when he laughed, tickling Arthur. It was a wonderful feeling. Arthur rested his chin on Merlin’s head, his cheeks occasionally brushing over an unruly lock of Merlin’s thick floppy hair.

“What?”

“I’ve just found out that Arthur Pendragon has a marking kink! Who would have thought?”

Arthur sighed. “Oh, just be quiet, Merlin. I’m trying to enjoy this moment.”

Merlin pursed his lips. “But you asked.” 

He brushed his hand over the back of Merlin’s head, scratching the short hair in Merlin’s nape, twisting the curling locks around his finger. “And I’m already regretting asking.”

Merlin stilled, looking up. “You’re thinking about how to get me to parade in front you naked, aren’t you?”

“I’m thinking about how to get you to parade in front me naked,” Arthur repeated without an ounce of shame and hid a smile in the crook of Merlin’s neck. 

 

 

“Morning, Arthur.” Merlin trailed the sharp lines of Arthur’s square jaw with the back of his hand where it gently trailed down to his throat and rested over his bobbing adam’s apple.

“Hey, “ he greeted sleepily back. Arthur was still in disbelief that they could finally touch each other. He’d never have even imagined that the sight of Merlin with his hair sticking in tufts out would make Arthur’s swell heart up. He reached his hand out and stroked over Merlin’s curly hair to flatten the cowlicks to the side of his head. Arthur grabbed a fistful of his hair pulled lightly at it.

“Ow!” Merlin squeezed his eyes shut. “What did you do that for, Arthur?”

“Sorry.” Arthur stroked Merlin’s cheek with his thumb in circling motions in apology. “I’ve always wanted to try this.”

“Kinky.”  He leaned into Arthur’s hand and touched his lips to the palm of his hand. “But do you want to know what I would like to try?”

“I hope I’m heavily featured, “ Arthur leered.

“I sure hope so since I’m going to get my old life back.”

 Arthur’s eyes bulged in terror as Merlin’s turned gold.

 _Emrys_.

 Arthur’s vision turned black.

 

 

“One thing that probably won’t ever change in any lifetime is you sleeping through every single important moment in your life, Arthur.”

“Merlin?” Arthur groggily asked. He glanced down on himself and found himself resting with his entire weight on Merlin who had his arm snaked around Arthur’s chest in a loose embrace. Arthur tried to get up but found himself unable to do. It was like he was trapped in place by an invisible force.

“Guess again,” he murmured against Arthur’s ear.

“Emrys.”

Arthur tried to pull himself away from him but the most he could brought his body to do was fall to the side of Emrys lap. “But how? It’s still a day too early for Samhain. You shouldn’t be able to be here.”

Emrys chuckled, darkly. “How foolish of you lots to underestimate me. I’ve always been there, you know? _I_ was the one helped weak, little Merlin protect you from Aredian. And this,” he stroked over the bracelet with the amber stone on Arthur’s wrist, “I needed your energy to speed my plan along if I wanted to regain the control over my body before Alator could thwart my plans.” He sighed. “I didn’t intend for you to get so gravely ill.”    

So he was the one who placed it on his bed. Arthur gritted his teeth.

Emrys leaned his cheek against the top of Arthur’s head. “Remember, Arthur? I was also holding you like this when we last were together.” He tightened his grip on Arthur. “This time I won’t let anyone take you away from me.”

Arthur struggled against Emrys’ hold. “What are you talking about?”

He sighed. “Had Alator told you nothing?” Emrys reached into the breast pocket of Arthur’s button-up. He held the sigil in front of them. Arthur had completely forgotten about it.

“You gave this to me,” Merlin stroked over the bird in the middle of the round object and added, “in another lifetime, that is. When dragons existed and magic was still feared. And when you were Arthur Pendragon of Camelot.”

Arthur drew a sharp breath.

“You can’t deny it, right? You’ve seen it for yourself in Annis’ bakery, haven’t you? How the deceiving Sidhe girl tried to take your soul in the lake. Want me to jog your memories?” He pressed the sigil between his and Arthur’s limb hand, knotting their hands together. Emrys muttered something under his breath and the medal in his hand heated, making his palm tingle.     

_Sophia smiled sweetly at him and reached a hand out for him. His vision zeroed in on him and Arthur walked deeper into the lake towards her. To him, she looked like the epitome of rightness and comfort. He felt like if he didn’t take her hand, Arthur would feel his heart rip out. Faintly, he heard a voice yelling his name from the side of the lake._

Arthur shook his head. Was that how Merlin felt? Like something was hammering against his head as a stranger’s memory entered his mind and forced him to accept them as his.

He dug his nails into Emrys’ skin, leaving red crescents over his knuckles. “Emrys! Where is Merlin now? What did you do to him? I swear if you’ve hurt him—”

Emrys laughed hollowly. “ _Merlin_ , _Merlin_. It’s always about him for you, isn’t it? Why draw a difference between him and me? We’ll be one and the same again once I’ll mend our souls again. Don’t bother about him anymore, _sire_.”

_“But it’s not you I want!”_

Immediately, Emrys released him and got up from under him. Arthur fell to the ground and to his surprise; he found himself able to move his right arm.

Arms wrapped protectively around his thin body, Emrys shook his head in disbelief. Tears were forming in his eyes. “You’re disregarding me? You don’t need me anymore, Arthur?”

It didn’t matter how much Emrys and Merlin differed from their characters, it didn’t change the fact they still shared the same body; the same habits and mannerisms.

To Arthur, it wasn’t a stranger throwing all these memories and expectations at him but Merlin, cowered in fear from rejection. He only saw Merlin’s small, shaking form in front of him.

Arthur looked away.

“I just want you to return Merlin to me.”

 

“ _Merlin_!” Someone hollered from a distance.

His fingers dug into the dirt as Arthur put his whole weight on his right arm to turn his body towards the voice.

Gwaine was running towards him with bare feet. He probably had only noticed their absence shortly ago.

“Stay away!” Emrys hissed out and made a dismissing motion with his hand as a four feet high branch broke away from a tree to Arthur’s left and flew towards Gwaine.

“Gwaine! Watch out, that’s not Merlin!”

Arthur breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw Gwaine narrowly jumping to the side and rolling away from the branch which broke in two when it wedged into the ground from the impact.

As Gwaine rolled away, he flung a shimmering object with what looked vaguely like a long tail towards Arthur.

He raised his right arm out to catch it but because of his partially immobilization, the object only grazed his fingertips before tumbling down next to his thigh on the ground.

Arthur reached blindly for it and when his fingers came in contact with something cool and smooth, he closed his hand eagerly around it. Just then, a tingling sensation spread from the object in his hand, not unlike the one he felt when Emrys had grasped his hand before to show him the vision. He felt his limbs getting lighter.

“You won’t reject me when he and I become one being once again.” With that, Emrys walked towards the lake, wading through the water to the center of the lake.

“No! Don’t!” Arthur shouted after him.

_Faster, faster. He needed to get up and stop Emrys._

Arthur gripped the stone tighter.

 

 

“I’m sorry!” Arthur said, struggling to keep his head above the water. “I’m sorry I can’t keep my promise in this lifetime. I’m sorry that I have to leave you again and make you go through your sufferings alone but,” he grabbed Emrys’ hand underwater, “But I also can’t leave Merlin alone.”

“We were originally one person. Everything is going to turn out alright when our souls become one again.” Arthur wondered whether Emrys was crying; water was streaming down on Emrys’ face, catching on his lashes.

Arthur shook his head. “It’s not how it’s supposed to be. You may be one soul but you’ve been apart long enough that he became his own individual. He even has his own body now.”

_And I, I don’t think I’m ready yet._

Emrys showed no sign of struggling to keep afloat unlike Arthur who had already swallowed a few mouthfuls of water from simultaneously speaking and swimming. He blinked the water from his eyes, watching a hurt looking Emrys kicking himself away from Arthur’s grip on him.

“You’re leaving me alone again?” Emrys asked.

His voice was too tiny and thin to be heard but Arthur could guess from the anguished expression on Emrys’ face what he said.

“No! But I don’t think I’m the person you’re looking for. Not yet.” He wasn’t just talking about the memories he lacked but also about the fact that he’d put Merlin above all else and because of this, Arthur just couldn’t stay with Emrys. For someone who could only see Arthur and has lived through more than a dozen lives just to wait for him, he’d deserve the man Arthur used to be and had yet to become again. 

“Just this time you have to forgive me, _Merlin_.” Arthur called him with his original birth name. And by calling him that, it felt like he was talking to the Merlin he knew, hurting the Merlin he was trying so hard to protect. And wasn’t that the truth? Somewhere inside this body was Merlin and in a way, Merlin and Emrys were still the same person and when Arthur’s Merlin would inevitably die sometime in the future, Merlin and Emrys’ soul would finally merge into one again.

Emrys looked pass him into the generally direction of the manor, giving Arthur a tired smile. _Was he reliving the memories he had as a spirit?_ “Is he more important than me?”

“I’m sorry.” Arthur swam forwards, pulling Emrys into an embrace who let it easily happen. This time he didn’t fled from Arthur’s touch.

“You will forget about me.” Emrys whispered shakily against Arthur’s shoulder.

Arthur shook his head. “I won’t!”

His fingers dug in Emrys’ shoulders. “I’ll devote my entire next life to you.”

“I’m immortal.”Emrys laughed hollowly. “I’ve heard too many empty promises in my life.”

Arthur tightened his grip around him. “Then my next life after the one I promised and every single one after that.”

“I’ve heard too many empty promises in my life.” Emrys sighed unhappily into his neck.

“But I’ve seen the vision. We’ve been connected since medieval times. What’s stopping us from being together again in our next lives? We’ll just have you try our hardest to maintain our bond.”

Emrys stared at him, dumbfounded.

_You can be lovers, close friends, family or anything else, as long as you wish maintain this bond into the next life._

“You’re saying the same things as Mary.” He chuckled.

Arthur arched an eyebrow. “Mary?”

“Forget it.” Emrys shook his head, smiling.

“I don’t mind lending him my power to make his body become his permanent vessel in this life.” He hooked his arms around Arthur’s neck, staring intently into his eyes. “And you promise me?”

“Yes.”

As if to seal the pledge, Emrys kissed him, smiling at him one last time before being wrapped by a blue light, losing his conscience and falling limply backwards.

Arthur managed to catch him in time.

It took only a few seconds for him to stir awake again in Arthur’s arms.

“Arthur?”

“Welcome back, Merlin.”

 

 

“Now that everything’s back to normal, what do you plan on doing?“ Arthur lazily ran his fingers through Merlin’s soft strand of hair. He was still amazed that he got to touch Merlin, could trace the lines of his body, grip his waist when he kissed him and hold his hand when Merlin was napping in the afternoon with his head on Arthur’s shoulder. Arthur would probably never tire of touching Merlin’s body.

“I don’t know, “Merlin carded a hand through his hair until he touched Arthur’s hand, joining their fingers together. “Maybe I’ll travel for a bit or go back to school.” He pointed with the index finger of his other hand to his temple. “I still have some lingering memories of my other self up here in my head. It seems like he was pretty bored since he got three degrees in medicine throughout different eras and one in medieval history.”

“Medieval history?” Arthur choked back a laugh. “Oh, his poor, poor professors. I bet he had a hard time refraining himself from setting them straight for all the rubbish they spouted.”

Merlin turned himself around, lying on his belly and stared at Arthur with pursed lips. “I hope you meant to say ‘poor Emrys’. It must have been nerve-wracking to keep all this cleverness to himself. All the anecdotes and tidbits from the things he saw firsthand he wanted to share but couldn’t because these dickheads would think him crazy and belittle him.” 

Arthur stroked the silver ring on Merlin’s finger, tracing the spikes of the miniature crown. Though this time, the ring was for real and not just a simple make-shift ring made out of paper. But sometimes, Arthur caught Merlin looking forlornly at the ring and one time, he even caught Merlin cutting a band of paper and wrapping it around his finger. Maybe the first ring Arthur gave him was more special to him than he originally thought. He drew Merlin’s fingers to his lips, kissing the ring and earning a smile from Merlin, looking as smitten as Arthur felt. But to Arthur, this ring was also special to him. Possibly more so than the first one since this ring was the first one he could put on Merlin’s finger himself.

“Oh yes, poor Emrys indeed. He must be wailing when he’s thinking about you planning to make use of his clever mind to cheat on all the exams ahead of you.” 

Merlin pouted, “Hey! What do you mean cheat? It’s all in _my_ mind. It’s probably his last present to me and of course, I’m going to show my gratitude and abuse my newfound gift.” He held Arthur in place with his hand at Arthur’s nape, eyes crinkling with mirth,”Just who do you take me for? I’m obviously no goody two shoes.”

“Really now?” Arthur grinned. “And what else did he leave you behind besides filling out your head with all the necessary knowledge, so that you can be idle for quite some time?”

Merlin’s smile was all dimples. “Hmmm, do you really want to know?” 

“Yes,” he nodded, returning the smile.

And out of nowhere, Merlin pulled a red string out, wrapping it around their hands, binding them together.

“For all I know, it involves you and me and a really affectionate sheep.”

“A sheep?” Arthur laughed.

 

_fin_


End file.
